Beginnings And Endings
by Macavity the Mystery Cat
Summary: AU. After the Third Angel, Shinji Ikari finds himself living alone, when Misato is late to arrive, and Section Two takes actions into its own hands...
1. Introjection

Beginnings and Endings – A Neon Genesis Evangelion Fanfiction

Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion, and I have no intention of making a profit of this story.

Author's Note: This story is AU, but instead of something strangely and bizzarely different, what happened if, after the events of the 3rd Angel, Misato was a little bit late to a very important meeting…

Chapter 1: Introjection

It wasn't fair, thought Misato Katsuragi, hair still wet from her quick shower, as she finally walked into NERV's central medical ward. It irritated her that even in death, the angel continued to cause her problems. Clean up had always been considered when dealing with the angels, but no one, she believed, had realized exactly what a monumental project it would turn out to be. If they had realized, there certainly would have been a far larger budget allocated to Section 6, the group assigned to the maintenance and repair of the Geofront and Tokyo-3. The repairs would take months to complete, and the crews weren't sure if they'd ever be able to restore the block where the angel had self-destructed to anywhere near operational condition. Which meant the residents of that area had to be accommodated somewhere. It was an organizational nightmare for all those who were involved, from the NERV technical and repair crews to the civilian city planners that had to deal with all the displaced civilians. She didn't envy any of them their jobs.

Well, at least the PR people of Section 5 were happy. They'd been chomping at the bit for over a year, Ritsuko had said, with nothing to do save for small community impact events and banquets for NERV grants to various academic institutions around the world. Now that things were moving, they had a chance to stretch their muscles and get down to work. They had a disaster to cover up, the start of a world crisis to deal with, and a new poster boy to promote; assuming they received permission from the Commander to even let the public knew he existed. They'd failed for years in getting permission to reveal things about Rei. Hell, they had had a hard enough time getting permission to reveal that Rei even existed. The fact they had worn the Commander down enough, even for just that, was a testament to Section 5's persistence.

Speaking of the new poster boy, Misato had left the clean-up efforts to debrief the boy and escort him to his new living assignment, something she wasn't entirely pleased about. It wasn't that she minded doing it, but she certainly had better things to do with her time. Shinji Ikari was a strange boy. Nothing like his father, it seemed, and came across as something of a coward to boot, though admittedly Misato couldn't really fault him for that. She doubted her response to being suddenly approached and asked to pilot a giant robot to save the world would have been much better. It was, after all, a lot of responsibility to drop on child unexpectedly. Hell, that was the understatement of the century. So perhaps, he wasn't such a coward at all, just a young boy confronted with a situation fully beyond his control and understanding. Though it might be better if he was a coward, she thought cynically. After all, it would make him easier to control.

Walking to the reception desk, Misato politely asked for the boy's room number and checkout information. She was supposed to have been there to pick him up and sign him out an hour and a half ago, but the site inspection had ended up taking far longer than she had expected. And when she had finished that, it had turned out the personnel decontamination unit hadn't arrived, and she had had to wait another half-hour. By that time, she had figured if she was going to be late, it wouldn't hurt to be a little more late. She had quickly run home and showered and changed into something a little more…formal, not to mention a little more revealing. After all, it wouldn't hurt to reward the poor boy with a little service for dealing with the wait, would it?

Misato was utterly flabbergasted when the receptionist gave her a sour look, and informed her that when the Chief of Operations had failed to arrive an hour after the appointed time, Section 2 had taken the initiative and had chosen to escort the boy to his new residence. Which meant that technically, the boy had left the hospital without having his release paperwork filled out. Such a thing was contrary to NERV policy, and Misato found herself, to her great anger, facing a pile of paperwork, explaining in detail exactly why she had been late, and why that had warranted Section 2's action.

The pile was large. It seemed it would be a while before she could deal with the Third Child.

* * *

Shinji Ikari was, by now, used to other people running his life. It wasn't as if he had given up on being his own person, at least not in the beginning, but he had found that despite everything he did, things always seemed to move beyond his control. If his opinions never mattered and his actions never accomplished anything, what was the point in even trying? Case in point, he had been instructed by a friendly nurse to wait for the Chief of Operations, whoever that was, to come sign him out of the hospital ward and take him to wherever he was staying. The Chief of whatever had apparently been running late, and a suited man that had been following him since he had left the room (whom Shinji had assumed to be a guard of some sort, despite the lack of obvious weapons, he had just had that sort of look), had called someone on a cell phone. Ten minutes later, three other men had arrived, consulted quietly with the receptionist, and had escorted him out of the building with as few words as possible. He had thought about protesting, but in the end, decided it wasn't worth the effort. After all, what would it accomplish?

He hoped he hadn't been kidnapped. He didn't honestly think he had been, but after the thing with the giant robot, he found himself having to revise his opinion on what was impossible and what was not. The men who had taken him from the medical building certainly looked like stereotypical kidnappers, but the NERV lapel pins on their collars reassured him that they were not. Well, at least not the illegal sort. He had no problem imagining his father having his personal security kidnap him and 'deal' with him out of sight from the rest of the world. It wasn't a pleasant thought, but he was sure if it came down to that, at least it would be quick. His father owed him that much, at least. He'd saved the world, hadn't he?

Still, other than to be vastly uncommunicative, the men had been polite. The four of them had surrounded him almost protectively as they had left the ward and they had moved to a nearby parking garage where they had gotten into an unmarked, but obviously, even from the outside and to Shinji, heavily armored van. Now they were heading…somewhere. He could tell from the sounds that filtered through the wall of the van that they were still in the city, which was somewhat reassuring. If they were going to shoot him, they'd probably do it in the country or at least a park in the suburbs. Though, that may have just been optimism and too many yakuza movies on his part.

With no windows, to stare out of, Shinji was left with nothing to do but observe his…captors? Escorts? Whatever they were, they were the only thing to look at in the van other than the floor or the ceiling. The van they were in had three rows of seating, and Shinji was positioned in the middle row beside one of the men. Another was seated in the row behind him, and the remaining two sat in the front, one driving, and the other quietly reading off what sounded like driving directions.

The man behind him looked European, or maybe American, with his blond hair done in a short, military-style haircut. Shinji couldn't see his eyes, but he could see the long scar that ran from above his forehead, behind the sunglasses all the men wore and presumably over the left eye, down his face, and below the man's short collar. He looked…young, Shinji supposed, though he knew wasn't the best at judging those things.

The man next to him was an older and of Japanese descent, who could have passed for a normal salaryman heading home on the train. He really had no notable features. No scars, moles, or any sort of identifying feature, just black hair and an average, even kind of dopey looking face. Shinji wouldn't have really been surprised to see the man disappear in a crowd a few seconds after entering it. The lack of scars was a surprising thing, though. Shinji was no expert on bodyguards or security people, but he knew that it wasn't a job one walked away from without injuries. The blond-haired man behind was proof of that, and he'd seen facial scars on the other two men in the few glances he had got of them. The man next to him was either very new, or possibly very good. Shinji was pretty sure both of those things were supposed to be frightening in this business. Whatever this business was.

Shinji really hadn't gotten a decent look at the two men in the front, due to the sheet of what he assumed to be tinted bulletproof glass that separated the driver's compartment from the rear. He could, however see that the driver at least looked Japanese, and the other man had very dark skin, possibly of Indian or African descent. Or he could have had a really good tan. Shinji really couldn't tell.

All of the men were large, imposing, physically fit, and wore sunglasses that prevented people from seeing their eyes. Maybe they were just crazily tinted, because there really wasn't much light in the van. What little there was came in from the front windshield and the driver's and passenger's front windows, and those windows were tinted, too, so even they did not give much light. The two in the back must have had the hardest time seeing. Or maybe they were used to it. Maybe working blind was considered a challenge?

Shinji fidgeted and tried to keep himself distracted by rummaging through his backpack. He had his S-DAT player, a few extra tapes for it, a change of clothes, a book he had brought to read on the train, and toiletries. And the letter from his father. He took it out, a stared at it. When he had first gotten the letter, he had ripped it up without even looking at it. He didn't want to hear from his father. He didn't want to see his father. They were done, through, end of story. And he had left the pieces in the garbage can. Of course, that hadn't prevented his guardian from fishing the pieces out of the garbage and putting them back together. It had been his guardian who had bought the ticket, and his guardian who had pushed him reluctantly into the train.

Shinji realized the hand holding the letter was clenching and unclenching by itself, and the letter was getting torn, again. He stopped his hand, and looked at the letter again, considering just ripping the letter into pieces once, again. He didn't, though, and instead tried to smooth the new creases the best he could, and reattach the tape that had come lose. It still looked worse off than it had before, but Shinji couldn't find it in himself to care. He folded up the letter, and placed it back in his bag.

"Got quite a chip on your shoulder, there, Pilot Ikari?" said a calm, deep voice to his left.

Shinji turned to face the older Japanese guard, for it was he who had spoken. "Well, I wouldn't say that…" He murmured quietly, and looked at the floor.

The man considered him for a moment, and then gave a small shrug. "As long as it doesn't mess with our business, it's your business, Pilot. Let me introduce my squad and myself. I am 1st Lieutenant. Shiro Yamada, and I'm the man in charge of protecting you. Behind you is your other primary, Sergeant Scott Hansen, and Sgts. Yuuichi Kawasumi and Mashudu Thilivhali up front, work night shift. I'm going to spell out how our relationship is going to work."

"Huh? Wait…what? Protect me?" Shinji sputtered out, looking the man in the face. The man wasn't making sense. He was going to be protected? Why? He had served his purpose and killed the monster, hadn't he? What was going on?

Lt. Yamada raised an eyebrow and frowned. "Haven't you received your briefing?"

Shinji frowned and looked at the lieutenant, more confused than before, "My what?"

Yamada's eyes went wide, and he turned to the man behind him, "Looks like Section One is playing games, again, Switch." The man rolled his eyes, but did not speak, and Yamada turned to face Shinji again. "Alright, we'll start from the beginning, then. You received a couple things from whoever brought you in, didn't you?"

Shinji thought for a moment, then nodded, and opened his bag. He rummaged around for a moment, before pulling out a small notebook with "Welcome to NERV!" on the cover. "Is this what you are talking about?"

The man blinked, picked up the book, and flipped through a few of the pages, before tossing it back to Shinji with a puzzled look on his face. "Was that it? Nothing else?"

"That was all Misato gave me. Was there supposed to be something else?" Shinji asked curiously, and picked up the book, and flipped through a few of the pages "This book is pretty useless. It just went on and on about how NERV was helping the world and saving humanity without saying how. It was pretty make a hundred pages of nothing."

The man brought his hands up to his face and massaged the top of his nose for a moment, before letting out a sigh. When he spoke, Shinji had the feeling the lieutenant was straining to control himself. From what, or who, Shinji didn't have the foggiest. "I don't know what happened, Pilot, but someone in Section One has screwed up, big time. When we're done here, I'll give them a call, and try to straighten this out. I'll try to cover the basics, but I'll probably miss some things. I've only got what my orders tell me, so I'll do my best, and we'll all just have to go from there. Got it, Pilot?"

Shinji nodded. He didn't know what was going on, but it seemed he wasn't being kidnapped or executed, or whatever other horrors his father was possibly capable. There was even going to be someone trying to explain what was going on. That in itself, was perhaps the best news he had gotten all day. Now if only these men had a train ticket home for him, everything would be set. Unfortunately, he didn't think that was where this conversation was going.

"Alright, first things first, who you are, and who we are. You are Shinji Ikari. Designated Third Children and Pilot of Evangelion Unit 01. You are, as of yesterday, a member of the UN military, attached to NERV-01 and in a short period of time will receive identification proving such. Your title within the NERV organization is 'Pilot', but you are formally ranked as a 2nd Lieutenant within the larger UN military structure. You are a member of Section 1 of NERV, classified as command and essential personnel, and are entitled to receive all such duties, benefits, and pay warranted one. Got all that, Pilot?" said Yamada, in the tone of one quoting regulation learned by rote.

"Not…really…" said Shinji, feeling a bit dazed. "Wait…what does all that mean? Didn't I kill the thing? Isn't it all over? I thought I was supposed to go home. Father doesn't have any more use for me, does he? The monster's dead, right?"

The lieutenant's eyes went wide, and he traded another look with the man in the back seat. They seemed to share something between the two of them, before the man turned back to face Shinji again. "I really can't answer that question, because I really don't know the answer myself. The word from up above says, that yes, there will be more. And that they should be following this one fairly quickly, though what exactly 'quickly' means, I can't tell you. A day, a month, a year, it could be any of those, Pilot Ikari."

Shinji closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He wanted to scream, he wanted to cry, and he wanted to hide in a corner. No one had told him anything, and if this man's reaction was anything, someone should have. Maybe it was the Director of Operation's job to do so, or maybe he'd just been accidentally skipped over. He didn't think so, though. His father just hadn't cared. Or had figured that he would stay even if he didn't.

Though, Shinji realized painfully as he thought it over, his father would be right in that assumption. He wanted to be here were his father was. As much as he hated him, despised him, and wanted nothing to do with him, he loved him to. He wanted to do something for his father, even if he was only a tool. Maybe this was the only thing he could do for him. How can a son not love his father? That was something Shinji longed to know. Or at least how to stop.

"The four of us, however, are from Section 2," Yamada continued. "Section 2 is assigned, among other things, with the protection of the Pilots. We are, for a lack of a more elegant term, your bodyguards. I'm sure you won't appreciate it, because inevitably we'll screw with your life somehow, intentionally or not, but I'd like you to remember that we are here to keep you safe, Pilot Ikari." The man fixed him with a stern eye, which felt strange coming from the man's slightly dopey-looking face.

Shinji found himself unable to meet that eye and brought his eyes to the floor again. The man seemed quite serious, which made Shinji worried. Was there something to worry about? "Is all of this…necessary?" He mumbled quietly, not quite expecting an answer, but hoping for one all the same, even if he knew he would probably not be pleased by it.

"Yes, it is, Ikari." The man said, dropping the title for the first time in the entire conversation, and Shinji couldn't help but bring himself to meet the man's eyes. He was surprised to see compassion in the man's eyes, though it felt very distant, "From the day you walked into NERV and got into the Eva, your life was in danger. There are cults, crazies, and conspiracy theorists, not to mention possible government agents that would love to either kill or get a hold of a Pilot. As much as this city is a fortress, even NERV," the man seemed to grimace, "can't always keep track of its personnel with any reliability without active manpower on the scene. How many attempts on the First's life have been foiled this year, Switch?"

The man in the back blinked, then spoke in a monotone, "5. Crazy outside NERV main entrance. Door security took him out. Assassin while attending the UN-NERV summit with the commander. Stopped by the commander's bodyguard. Attempted poisoning of the water supply of the First's apartment complex. Stopped by city water employees. Sniper while at NERV-5 base at Matsushiro. Stopped by base security. Crazy on the way to school. Hit by a bus." The last one seemed to make both of the men smile, but Shinji just shuddered.

"With the Third Angel's appearance," the lieutenant continued, "it's likely that the activity will increase even more. Attacks have been slacking for the past year or two, but we expect them to double, triple or even quadruple in frequency. Sorry, Pilot, but you might have been marked the moment your father sent for you."

With that, the man lapsed into silence, and Shinji was left to grapple with these revelations. He didn't know what to make of the situation. He could almost deal with being in danger trying to kill the…Angels, he guessed they were called, but he would be in danger from other…normal people as well. People that might very well kill him if they got a chance. He should feel angry with his father for dragging him into this without warning, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. After all, what point would it serve? It was already said and done. Not that his father would take it back even if he could.

"This is going to follow me for the rest of my life, isn't it?" Shinji said, giving Yamada a weary smile, and then looked at the floor once again, bringing his hands to cover his face.

The man paused before replying. "…In all likelihood…yes. You'll be dealing with people like us and like them for the rest of you life, however long it may be. While you are in our care, however, I promise, we will do our best to let you live as normal a life as possible. That brings me back to my original topic. How you and us will work together to keep you safe, Pilot Ikari."

Shinji nodded wearily, and brought his head up to pay attention. However much he hated his life at the moment, he had no wish for it to end. If cooperating with these people helped him live longer, he would do so. The longer he lived, the larger the chance that he had to get out of here…Not that it was guaranteed that he'd take the opportunity if it was presented. If he could bring himself to leave his father again, now that they were so close…in distance of course, not anything that actually counted for anything.

"First thing to remember is that two of us will be near you, if not in sight, at all times. As I said beforehand, Sgt Hansen and I will follow you during the day and Sgts. Kawasumi and Thilvhali will guard you at night. We will do our best to be unobtrusive and invisible in order so that you can live your life as freely as possible, but to do that, you must be ready to cooperate with us." He gave Shinji a considering look, "That largely means using your brain. Don't do stupid things, Pilot. Don't go places that invite trouble. Try to stick with large groups of people. Never walk home alone at night. That sort of thing. It'll go a long way to making our job easier, and will also make you feel safer."

"…I think I can do that." Shinji said weakly. He wasn't the type to do stupidly dangerous things or visit shady places, anyway. In fact, those were things he actively tried to avoid.

"Secondly," Yamada reached into his pocket and pulled out an object, which he handed to Shinji, "Keep this cell phone on you at all times. It will allow you to be contacted in the case of Angel attacks, as well as security concerns. There is a number in there that calls whoever is charge of watching you for moment. Also my personal home phone number is on there, " he fixed Shinji with a stern eye, "I expect you to use them only when it is absolutely necessary."

Shinji nodded in easy agreement. That made sense. Especially for the home number. Even the people of NERV wanted to keep their jobs out of whatever personal lives they had. Unless they were like him, he supposed, and the job couldn't help but interfere with the rest of their lives.

"Feel free to use it as a personal phone as well. The bill goes to NERV. In the memory, in addition to the first two numbers, are the local medical and police dispatches, as well as the NERV Section 4 emergency medical ward. And Switch here had the foresight of adding a few decent take-out places, just in case it takes you a couple days to get settled in and get food for yourself."

Shinji turned and nodded thanks at the sergeant in the back seat, who returned it after a moment's pause. He hadn't even thought of food, though that wasn't terribly surprising, as he had expected a short stay here and then a quick train ride back home. Except it wasn't home anymore, he supposed. Some house or apartment in Tokyo-3 would be, he guessed. He started building a list of things he'd need for himself, and listened with half an ear while Lt. Yamada continued.

"The third and final thing, Pilot, is fairly simple. While you are not in the Evangelion, your first and only job is to survive." If the looks the man had been sending him had been hard before, this one pierced through him and nailed him to the van's door, and Shinji abruptly forgot the grocery list he had been building, "Your life is not entirely your own, anymore, Pilot Ikari. Billons of people are relying on you to kill the Angels. If some crazy kills you in a back alley, or you accidentally slip and fall off a bridge, then there is one less pilot protecting the world. You are 1 of 3 people currently capable of performing your job. Do not hesitate to put your life ahead of others. In the long run, your life is more important. Look out for yourself, and we'll do our best to stop the things that you can't prevent."

Shinji was shaken by the man's words. Put his life ahead of others? What did he mean by that? Didn't Yamada know how worthless he was? Hadn't the man seen or at least heard about what his father thought of him? How could he justify sacrificing others just to continue his own pitiful existence, even if he was a pilot of giant robot that was supposed to save the world? Surely there were other people just as qualified as he was to pilot the monstrosity.

But Shinji looked into the lieutenant's eyes, and saw sincerity, and even a touch of the distant compassion that had graced the man's eyes before. The man was entirely serious about what he had said. He believed it, and more importantly he wanted Shinji to believe it as well. Yamada truly believed that he, Shinji Ikari, unwanted and abandoned son of Gendo Ikari, was worth all that consideration. And even if the man believed it for selfish reasons, like wanting to survive, Shinji felt a strange warmth. It made him feel uncomfortable, but when the man spoke again, asking if he would follow all the three rules, he couldn't help but give a quiet, but confident, "Yes, I will, Lieutenant. Thank you."

* * *

_From: Section One, Office of the Director of Operations, Capt. Misato Katsuragi _

_To: Section Two, Security Division, Capt. Koizumi Arima_

_Message: Just what the hell were your men doing today, Capt. Arima? Debriefing and escorting the pilot was clearly my job. Your men overstepped the bounds of their authority! I'm submitting a complaint to the Commander! If you and your men are lucky, you'll be on night watch at NERV-Siberia for the next five years!_

_Do you know how much paperwork I had to fill out to straighten all of this out?!_

_Capt. Misato Katsuragi_

_Opeartions Director

* * *

_

_From: Section Two, Security Division, Capt. Koizumi Arima_

_To: Section One, Office of the Director of Operations, Capt. Misato Katsuragi_

_Message: Send all the complaints you want, Capt. Katsuragi. My men were well within their bounds of their authority. If you had shown up on time, maybe they wouldn't have had to act. If you had simply called ahead to inform the hospital staff and Section Two that you were going to be late, this could all have been avoided. Your irresponsibility caused what happened. I had to shift two squads from guarding the clean-up operation to look for you, because you didn't show up, and we thought you had possibly been killed._

_And I have a complaint of my own. Why the hell hadn't the kid received a briefing on what's going on? He's been in the hospital for two days, for God's sake! Couldn't someone have wandered in and, I don't know, given him the basics? My officer to explain everything to the kid on the scene, Captain! The kid didn't even know that he was being taken to his new apartment! He thought he was going to the train station to go home! Who screwed up that one, Captain?_

_Capt. Koizumi Arima_

_Section Two, Security Division Commander_

_

* * *

_

From: Section One, Office of the Director of Operations, Capt. Misato Katsuragi

_To: Section Two, Security Division, Capt. Koizumi Arima_

_Message: Damn you, Arima!_

_Misato Katsuragi_

_Director of Operations_

I have to admit this idea has been in my brain for a good bit. I really am not a huge fan of stories that take an enourmously different approach to a story, at least at the beginning. I prefer small changes, like this one, which open slightly new possibilities for the reader. Also this stories allows me to indulge myself a bit in some of my personal interests, one of which includes how NERV works and is structured. I know, kind of random, but I've always wondered how it functioned, and now I have an excuse to write up how it does. So, if every now and then, I seem to get sidetracked on a little bit of organizational structure or something, please be forgiving.

I really don't know when the next chapter of this will be out. Possibly never (though I hope not), maybe in a month or less, but probably more. I'm a college student and finals are coming up.

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much I did writing it (Even if Shinji angst gets irritating to write after a while)!


	2. Separation Anxiety

Disclaimer: I do not Evangelion. I do not intend in any way to profit off of this story.

Chapter 2: Separation Anxiety

With the end of that conversation, it seemed to Shinji that the ban on small talk was removed. Yamada seemed to be a friendly enough man, and spent much of the remainder of the drive having largely one-sided conversations with either the sergeant in the back seat or Shinji. In a relatively short period, Shinji learned about the man's wife and daughter, the latest baseball scores (Chunichi Dragons beating the Yomiuri Giants 6 to 3), and that Sgt. Hansen was dating a blond from Section 3 and hadn't yet gotten past first base.

Shinji also found himself revealing a number of things to the man. He didn't quite know how the man did it, but after a few amusing stories about the adventures of Yamada's daughter, Shinji felt himself relaxing for the first time in several days. He knew without a doubt that the man was purposely doing it, but still he found himself sitting more comfortably and even smiling a bit at particularly funny punch lines. In the process, he unwillingly let slip that he played the cello, had never been on a date, was a half-decent cook, and was used to fending for himself. He was fairly certain, that at least some of those details were being remembered, and after thinking about, he didn't really want to know why. Still, it was nice to feel comfortable for once.

Deciding to do a little information gathering himself, Shinji gathered the courage that had returned to him and asked his own question, "So what exactly does Section Two do, anyway?"

The two men in the back traded looks again, and Yamada shrugged his shoulders at the sergeant, before answering Shinji's question. "Well, we do a lot, I suppose. There aren't really too many of us around, maybe fifteen hundred people total for all of NERV. That's actually probably a high estimate. About two hundred of us are here, the rest are scattered around the rest of NERV's bases. Any reason you want to know?" He raised an eyebrow.

Shinji looked at the floor, the small well of confidence drying up, "…No, well, not really. I guess I was just curious…After all…I suppose I'll be working with you guys for a while…" Shinji managed to stammer out.

There was a pause, and then, surprisingly, Hansen in the back seat spoke up, his voice, a quiet, near monotone as always. "There are three divisions within Section Two. Due to limited personnel, however, many of us often double-hat. The Security Division is responsible for base, location, and personnel security. Intelligence is responsible for gaining information on the enemy, in addition to other countries and organizations that might oppose NERV. The Counter-Intelligence Division is responsible for providing misinformation and paramilitary operations if, when, and where they are needed."

"Giving out all our secrets, right away, aren't you, Switch?" said Yamada with a touch of amusement.

Shinji looked up just in time to see the blond haired man's eyebrows furrow, and speak again, this time with a touch of irritation. "He asked. What more do you want from me?"

Yamada just laughed and turned towards Shinji, leaning forward and whispering conspiratorially, "He's not quiet like the Ice Princess, Pilot. When he gets off work he relaxes, and get this, even occasionally speaks without prompting!"

"Shove it," Came the terse reply from the back seat, and Shinji couldn't help but smile when Yamada starting laughing again.

"What do you mean by 'like the Ice Princess?'" Shinji asked the two men when Yamada had recovered from his bout of laughter.

Yamada nodded and answered the question "That's Security's nickname for the First Child, you know, the blue-haired girl? I heard that you had some sort of encounter with her, so you should know who I'm talking about. The codename we use for her on the radios is 'Princess,' but she's really such a-" both men stiffened, and all the friendliness drained from both of their faces almost faster than Shinji could blink. What remained was the cold, expressionless look of professionalism that made Shinji very uncomfortable, especially combined with the fact the van had come to a stop. . "-We're here. Pilot, please stay between us, and try not to make any sudden moves. The First's security team hasn't been in the area for several days due to the girl's hospitalization, so it is entirely possible that hostiles have been in and around the area. This is a supposed to be a safe area, but now that the Angel's have returned, all bets are off."

Shinji nodded, and quickly checked to make sure he had everything. He didn't want to risk irritating these men by forgetting something and having to come back for it. Fortunately, everything seemed to be in order, and when he looked up again, the man sitting in the passenger seat, Sgt. Thilivhali, Shinji thought his name was, had gotten out of the van. A second later, sunlight flooded the inside of the van and Shinji had to blink repeatedly to adjust to the sudden brightness. Yamada was the first one out, and when Hansen gestured, Shinji followed him obediently out.

Shinji was absolutely underwhelmed by his surroundings when his eyes finally did manage to adjust. To be completely and utterly honest, the place looked like a dump. The buildings were bland, empty looking, and obviously built as economy housing. It was fairly obvious that the buildings had never been occupied, at least by paying renters, and instead of that being a plus, they looked as if they had been abandoned as soon as they had been built. To top it off, Shinji could hear the noise of construction quite clearly a short distance away. It looked as if his father had found out the perfect way to show exactly what he thought of his son.

Thankfully, Shinji was spared a longer look at his surroundings when Sgt. Hansen emerged from the van behind him and pushed him towards the stairs. Lt. Yamada and the other sergeant had already headed up the stairs, and Shinji hurried to follow them. He didn't understand it, but he suddenly felt very naked and exposed out in the open area. He hunched his shoulders and did his best not to break into a run. It seemed as if Lt. Yamada's paranoia was already affecting him.

His apartment was apparently on the fifth floor, as the group slowly moved up the stairs, stopping at ever junction, to scan for what Shinji assumed to be hostiles. They found none, thankfully, and when they reached the fifth level, Sgt. Thilivhali, who was indeed of some sort of African descent and not just a man with a very good tan, interposed himself between Shinji and the railing. Yamada took to the front position and Hansen brought up the rear. It was very frightening to be surrounded by the three, who were armed and seemed quite ready to draw whatever weapons they had at the slightest provocation, but at the same time, Shinji somehow founded it very comforting. For the moment, his life was in their hands.

The group passed the first door on the floor, but paused before the second. Yamada made some sort of hand gesture, that made little sense to Shinji, but apparently did to the other Section Two men. Yamada then drew a rather mean and dangerous looking pistol, and carefully moved to open the door. As soon as he touched the door, it swung violently open, and all hell broke lose.

* * *

Rei Ayanami was quite familiar with the hospitals of NERV. Throughout her short life, she had spent a great deal of time in the many facilities of Section Four. From the small infirmary right outside the Eva cages to the massive surgical ward deep within the heart of headquarters, Rei Ayanami knew them all. She knew one more thing. She hated them all.

It wasn't that the nurses were inattentive or the food was bad. On the contrary, the food was of excellent quality, even for a vegetarian like Rei, and the nurses, to Rei's growing irritation, were in fact near borderline over attentive. However, neither of those were acceptable reasons to hate the facilities. It had taken her many hours of quiet deliberation to deduce the exact reasons for her feeling. When she finally came to a conclusion, it had surprised her.

It was the smell. The hospitals in NERV all had the same smell, and she found it utterly disgusting. The smell of blood. Not just any blood, for if one spent any amount of time around the Eva's and at NERV, one quickly became accustomed to the smell, but the smell of her own blood. It filled the hallways and rooms of the hospitals, and leaked through the doors and windows into the surrounding area. It was a constant reminder of the path and the destination that was chosen for her.

Why she should find that so loathsome, Rei was not quite sure. After all, her purpose in life was to pilot Eva, and if what lay at the end of that path was her blood being spilled, what was the problem? Perhaps it was simply that the place represented a long period of pain and suffering for her, both in the past and for the future. Though, even that should not matter in the face of her ultimate purpose. Pain was only a temporary inconvenience, after all.

Even with that logic, Rei did her best to keep her visits to the hospitals of NERV as short as possible. As soon as she could breathe and walk on her own, she would fill out her release paperwork, and make her way home. In the beginning, the doctors had tried to prevent her from leaving, but Rei was nothing, if not persistent. Even Section 2 had been unable to prevent her from leaving, as one man who had tried to physically restrain her had learned quite well. His broken ribs had healed nicely, but the man still walked with a slight limp. In the end, the medical staff had given up and let her do what she wanted, though they still always filed a token protest with the commander when she checked out earlier than they wished. Which were routinely ignored, as always.

Rei proceeded down the familiar hallway of the Pilots' Ward at her usual slow pace, having temporarily escaped from her hospital room. There was an unusual amount of activity near the entrance to the ward that drew her attention. She made her way towards the activity and stopped to curiously watch the custodial workers and nurses removing the sheets and some of the used equipment from the room. Until this week, the room and it surrounding support facilities had all been sealed and the equipment kept waiting for their intended use. Now that the Third Child had arrived, the rooms were staffed and the equipment serviced and readied for use.

The hospital staff, once they noticed her, proceeded to pay her no attention, and finished their cleaning work quickly and efficiently. They left the room, bowing politely to her, and headed for the elevator, and presumably, to either their next task or the staff break room. It didn't terribly matter much to Rei what they did or where they went, for the moment they left, Rei stepped into the room and began to look around.

It was an almost exact copy of her room. The bed and heart monitor were in the same places, as was the restroom and flower table. Still, Rei carefully looked over the room nearly inch by inch. She didn't know exactly what she was looking for, or exactly why she was searching, but Rei never let things like that bother her. She was not immune to the occasional strange urge or compulsion; she was human, just like everyone else.

Still when she had gone over the whole room, she couldn't help but frown slightly in confusion and irritation. She had not found anything. This had been a waste of her time that could have better been served by preparing for her release tomorrow. There were things to be done and paperwork to fill out. Everything needed to be perfect; else the doctors would find some almost legimate reason to keep her in this place.

Turning around, Rei made her way to the room's door, only to stop and face the room again when something caught her attention. She looked over the room carefully one last time, then inhaled and smelled. Nodding to herself in slight satisfaction, she understood what had driven her to search the room. It was the smell. It was like…Commander Ikari's, and not. She supposed it might be his son's.

* * *

As soon as the door started to swing open, Shinji saw Yamada pull sharply backward and Shinji found himself flying backward after a hard push backward from Sgt. Thilvhali as the man threw himself between Shinji and the door. He felt Sgt. Hansen catch him roughly, and suddenly he was being rapidly half-carried, half-dragged even further backward back towards the stairs. Before they rounded the corner of the building, Shinji saw both Sgt. Thilivhali and Lt. Yamada at the door, both with dangerous looking pistols in their hands. Then they rounded the corner, and Shinji had to rely on sound to figure out what was going on.

St. Hansen dropped him roughly to the ground on the side of the wall, then, without pausing, drew a pistol from somewhere beneath his jacket, and positioned himself at the corner. Shinji could hear him whispering under his breath, and after a second of thought, realized that the man likely had some sort of radio on him, and was probably communicating with the other three agents. He scooted closer, to try to hear what the sergeant was saying.

What he heard was fragmented, as expected from a radio conversation. "…secured by the stairs, Yuu. Watch the car." There was a pause. "Sir, I'm covering you two. Go for it."

The next thing Shinji heard was a loud crashing noise coming from what he assumed was the door, and some almost unintelligible yelling. He assumed that it was the two men shoving their way into the apartment. He curled himself into a small ball beside the sergeant, and waited for the inevitable sound of gunshots.

Instead he heard more shouting, then a strange silence, which even Sgt. Hansen didn't break by whispering into his radio. The man's tenseness didn't go away and neither did he relax his grip on the gun, so Shinji remained curled up. Whatever had happened or had not happened still was apparently dangerous, and Shinji was more than willing to do what it took to keep himself alive. Dying at the front door of his new apartment wasn't exactly the most attractive of deaths.

After a few more tense moments, however, the man relaxed, which allowed Shinji to relax as well. Something had been cleared up, and they were at least slightly safer than before, which suited Shinji just fine. Things were exciting enough without adding a gunfight to the mix. At this point, all that Shinji wanted to do was to find a bed and rest. Then maybe when he woke up, he could make sense of what was happening to his life.

"The Lieutenant and Sgt. Thilvhali have finished the initial bomb search, and are checking the neighboring rooms. They aren't really expecting anything, so it should be safe to proceed to the apartment," said Sgt. Hansen, back to his normal deadpan. Just the idea of a bomb sent shivers down Shinji's spine. He hadn't even thought of that. Would this sort of thinking need to become routine? Was this what Yamada had meant by always think about his survival first? He hoped not, for the sake of his sanity.

Shinji picked himself off the ground, and dusted himself off, and when the agent began to move, followed close behind. They passed the first apartment door, which was now wrenched wide open, and Sgt. Thilivhali stuck his head out and nodded to Sgt. Hansen as they passed. He fell in behind them as they headed for the second door.

Yamada appeared out of the third door, ahead of them, at about the same time, and walked towards them. When he reached them, he gave a strange sort of smile that sent shivers down Shinji's spine. It was the smile of a very unhappy predator, about to join in on the hunt. "It seems, Pilot Ikari, as if the boys of Section 1 are not too fond of you. They have chosen to house you in a room with no functional lock and…well…you'll just have to see for yourself." He turned and gave a mockingly grand gesture for the boy to enter.

Giving all three men a nervous glance, Shinji stepped in the door. He made to take off his shoes, but immediately decided against it, for there was a thick layer of dust on the ground. Right inside the door was a pile of boxes marked with his name, which Shinji assumed had come from his guar…former guardian. To have them here this quick, the man must have assumed from the get-go Shinji would not be returning. At least he had waited for Shinji to leave. A small kindness, but that was more than he often received.

Walking further into the room, cause Shinji's already low spirits to sink to rock bottom. The dust on the floor covered just about everything else in the room, not that there was much to 'everything else.' There were spaces and wall stains that suggested a dresser and desk had once occupied some of the floor space, but there were long gone. There was also a pile of broken metal in one corner that might have once been a frame for a Western style bed, but since it was under the dust Shinji couldn't be sure. The kitchen was the same, missing both a stove and a refrigerator and a pile of broken wood that was probably once a table and chairs. With some relief, Shinji saw that the bathroom was largely intact, though for some reason someone had scrawled in orange paint a number of rude words on the toilet. Overall, it could barely be called an apartment. If Shinji had had enough energy to be heartbroken, he would have been, but all he could manage was sort of a listless unhappiness. He walked back out of the apartment to the waiting agents, and gave sort of an unhappy shrug to their questioning glances.

They exchanged a look among each other, and then continued a somewhat broken conversation, that apparently included the agent back in the van. Yamada was doing most of the talking. "…Yeah, tell Norio that I'm going to break both his legs when I get back for not telling us beforehand about the lock being broken." There was a long pause, "Well, I'm glad to know that he was arranging for a new lock, but tell him the door needs a new frame, now as well. Hell, just tell him to get a whole new door. A good one." Another pause. "Good. And tell him to ask about the rest of the building. The security here is so leaky that a blind, armless man could come in and kidnap either of the Children. And ask why the Third's room is such a dump." Another pause. "Alright, a cot is fine for tonight, I'm glad Norio had the foresight to think of that. I'll ask around about the rest when I get back. Get back to base and pick up the new door and the crew to install it. We'll stay here and…I dunno, make sure this building doesn't fall apart more than it already is."

With that final remark, Shinji heard the van start in the lot below, and mournfully watched it drive off down the road. There went his hope for a completely different living space. Maybe if he was lucky, the man would bring a cleaning crew and new furniture back too along with him, though that was probably hoping for too much. He had heard something about a cot, which he was almost certain was a temporary bed of some kind, so at least he'd have somewhere to sleep that wasn't covered in dust.

The three men discussed something in English that Shinji couldn't quite understand, before the African sergeant nodded, put his gun away, and walked off towards the stairs, before disappearing down them. It was kind of strange. He suddenly felt much more vulnerable without the other man there, and took a few tentative steps towards the remaining agents.

Yamada and Hansen continued to discuss something in whispered English for a few more moment, before nodding each other and turning towards himself. They escorted him, once more, inside the filthy apartment, and left Hansen right inside the door, but Yamada pushed Shinji a forward into the room a little more. They stopped and Yamada turned and gave, to Shinji's surprise, a moderately low bow. "I would like to apologize for my words and actions a few minutes ago, Pilot Ikari. Despite their truth, they were uncalled for, and if you were insulted in anyway, please accept my apology." Shinji gave an uneasy nod, "Secondly, I'd like to apologize for the condition of your apartment. These are emergency NERV personnel apartments, and as you can see," he gave another mocking gesture, "they have not been kept up to standard. When I return to headquarters tonight, I will contact the people in Section 1 who are better equipped to deal with this and see what they can do about it. Until then, we'll wait for your new door to arrive, and then let you sleep," he frowned and look slightly uncomfortable, "as well as you can sleep in here, anyway."

Shinji nodded weakly, and took another look around the room. It was a dump, without a doubt. He hoped he would at least be able to a proper bed in here quickly. It didn't matter if it was a futon, or a Western style bed, as long as it was comfortable, he didn't care. Whatever a cot was, it certainly didn't sound comfortable.

"Where did Sgt Thi...Tiv...Thil…the other agent that was with us go?" Shinji asked the lieutenant, embarrassed that he hadn't been able to pronounce the name of one the men who were trying to protect him.

"Thilivhali? He went to check out and hopefully man the security post across the street. The Ice Princess's security team usually is the one to use it, but now that you're here, it's going to be staffed at all times by either us or them. Safer that way." He frowned, "It should have been that way from the start, actually, but…," he shrugged, his own puzzlement obvious, "budgeting and some bizarre internal Section 1 politics, I'd guess."

Shinji nodded, and tucked those little bits of information into the back of his brain. If he was to stay alive, they might come in handy someday. "How long till the new door gets here?"

The man shrugged. "Knowing Norio, he-" Yamada punched his fist into his hand and rolled his eyes, "Norio's the quartermaster for Section Two and sort of NERV' custom's officer, by the way, sorry about that. He should have the door pretty quick. The work crew might be a little harder. With the clean-up operations and everything, a door installation might be pretty far down on the priority list. If we're here more than two hours, I'll send out a Class 1 call. That's our 'drop everything, security breach' call. Hopefully, that won't be necessary, though. It makes everybody nervous."

Shinji nodded dazedly, and when Yamada saw there were no more questions, he moved to the doorway to join Sgt. Hansen, leaving Shinji largely to his own devices. He took a few minutes to pull himself together, again, before looking around the desolate room once more. He obviously couldn't unpack. The place was too dirty, and there weren't any places left to put things anyway. At least, he could maybe start on the cleaning.

Making his way over to the boxes, Shinji began to open and go through the contents of the boxes. Depending on how thorough his former guardian had been, he should have a couple of old shirts he had once used to help paint his guardian's house. He was sure they could double as washrags just as well. If they weren't in the box, he could probably sacrifice something else, but with his current circumstance he'd really rather not. Still, sitting around with nothing to do for two hours would just give himself too much time to think.

Thankfully, in the box at the bottom of the pile marked 'Throwaways?' Shinji found the shirts he was looking for. Giving the main room a quick look over, Shinji gave it up as a lost cause for the moment. The kitchen, however, didn't seem quite as bad. Also, it was a higher priority. After all, he needed to eat much more than he needed a clean place to sleep, even if he was currently missing a stove and refrigerator. Best-case scenario, he would have the area cleaned up in time for the appliances to be delivered. Worst case, he at least had one clean room.

Tying one of the shirts around his face as a dust filter, Shinji went after the small room with a vengeance. Thankfully, the water from the small sink was turned on, and even appeared to be clean, which made the job much easier. He was relieved that something in this horrible apartment worked. Maybe that meant the toilet and the shower worked too. If nothing else, he could be clean, even if the apartment wasn't.

Before he knew it, an hour had passed, and Sgt. Hansen came in and gestured for him to follow. Shinji had been rather absorbed in cleaning a particularly stubborn stain on the floor, and hadn't even heard the man until he was right in from of him. He supposed it felt good to do something that didn't require him to think. After all that had happened the last few days, thinking was really the last thing on his to-do list.

Taking off his impromptu dust mask and leaving it by the sink, Shinji made his way into the other room, where, to his surprise, a bag of takeout was sitting. Yamada and Hansen were already going at the meal, and when Yamada saw Shinji enter the room, he gestured to the bag. "Feel free to take something. We didn't expect to be here this long, so I asked NERV to have something delivered. The mess halls generally turn out decent food, so I figured, why not? Not at my expense." The man laughed.

Shinji shrugged, as did the sergeant, and made his way over to the bag and pulled out a Styrofoam container. Grabbing some of the disposable tableware that someone had thoughtfully adding, Shinji moved to join the two men at the door. He glanced sideways at what both of them were eating. They both had some sort of rice dish, which probably meant it was edible, if not always terribly tasty. Opening his own container, which revealed another portion of the same dish, Shinji began to eat.

The hallway had been relatively quiet while Shinji was working, and the meal wasn't terribly different. Both men ate with a kind of mechanical precision; clearly their attention was somewhere else. Or maybe they just weren't too fond of the dish, Shinji couldn't really tell. Even while eating, the men both seemed kind of tense; one of them was always looking out of the door, and every few seconds one or the other would shift positions minutely. Shinji wondered if all security people were that jumpy. He assumed they probably were. It was a dangerous profession after all.

Still, Shinji was used to at least a little conversation during meals, so when the silence became near unbearable, he spoke up. "…So, any news on the new door?"

The American grunted, and shook his head, and Yamada barely looked up from his meal, at least when he wasn't staring out the door. Shinji was a bit disappointed. He at least expected a reply from Yamada, the man seemed talkative enough when things weren't that tense. Maybe that meant…He opened his mouth to ask a question, but was surprised when Hansen spoke, instead. "Move back to the kitchen, Pilot. You are exposed."

Shinji's eyes widened in surprise and looked to Yamada who nodded. "Sitting in the hallway with the door open, is all well and fine for us, Pilot, but it leaves you quite exposed. You should eat your meal in the kitchen and continue what you were doing in there until the new door arrives."

Shinji nodded, and retreated with his meal, feeling a little hurt, and frankly a bit lonely. They were only trying to protect him, but he appreciated their company, nonetheless. Since he had arrived in town, he had been shuffled from person to person and place-to-place. To him, this was a strange and frightening city. In this desolate and unknown place, any company was welcome; even it was the company of paid security agents whose only job was to see that he remained physically intact.

He finished his meal, and without having a trashcan to put anything in to, regretfully placed the empty container on his newly cleaned countertop. It was depressing to christen his new apartment with an empty take-out box, but really, there wasn't a terribly large amount of choices. He certainly didn't want to take anything out of his boxes and put it somewhere in this dirty place. He supposed he'd just have to deal with it.

Returning to his task, Shinji did his best to finish cleaning up the kitchen. After digging through the pile of loose wood sitting in the middle of the room, he came to the conclusion that the table and chairs really were a total loss. However, with nowhere to simply pitch them, Shinji's only real option was to wipe them down the best he could and stack them neatly in the corner by the doorway leading to the main room. However, the cupboards were surprisingly clean on the inside, and not even scratched or marked on the outside. Whatever vandal had come by and taken the appliances and vandalized the bed and table apparently didn't really care about cabinets. Not that he was complaining.

It took another twenty minutes to finish up the kitchen, and Shinji debated with himself on whether or not to start on the bathroom. It was getting dark, and he had already tried the lights. Either the electricity wasn't turned on in the apartment yet, or the vandals had chosen for some reason or other to take the light bulbs as well. He hadn't tried to remove the fixtures to check, even if he had cleaned the outsides of them in the kitchen. The bathroom was quite small, and Shinji was worried about the possibility of tripping over something and somehow injuring himself. In an unfamiliar room, it was entirely likely, especially for Shinji.

Thankfully, he was saved from the choice by the arrival of the new door and what he assumed was the thing he was supposed to be sleeping on. The cot wasn't terribly impressive, in fact it looked rather worn and very uncomfortable, but the door the workmen had brought certainly was. It looked as if had been ripped from a top-secret bunker storing nuclear weapons. It was made of three inches of reinforced steel, and had an electronic lock that apparently, according to one of the workmen, would take a Cray supercomputer two weeks of continuous computing to crack. Even the two security men were impressed. Whatever they had been expecting, this certainly hadn't been it.

"The Vice-Commander sends his regards," one of the workmen cheekily said. Almost as if on cue, Shinji heard a brief humming noise, and one of the fluorescent lights in the main room tiredly flickered on. It wasn't much, but it was enough to bring a slight smile to Shinji's face. It seemed as if there was at least one person out there who was looking out for him.

The door installation took another two hours, largely due to the need for some creative rewiring to power the electronic lock. Shinji used the time, and the newly provided lights to give the bathroom a rough cleaning, and even get started on part of the main room. When it came time for the workmen to leave, he had cleaned a large enough space for the cot. He thanked the workmen with all the courtesy he could muster, earning smiles from several of the men. To his surprise and somewhat relief, the workmen gathered together all of the broken furniture pieces and took them out when they left. A large part of his clean up was done and he had somewhere to sleep. It almost made life seem pleasant, at least for the moment.

"Well, that went better than expected," Said Lt. Yamada, sounding almost happy, "Was expecting a normal sort of door, not a Mark 4. I don't know what Norio did to get the Vice-Commander's attention, but I hope he remembers what it was, just in case we have to do that again. I guess I won't be breaking his legs after all. He got Nagamura's work crew to come, too. Wonder what favor he called in to get them off reconstruction duty…" he mused to himself.

Sgt. Hansen rolled his eyes at the lieutenant, and then gestured at Shinji to come to the door with him. He then proceeded to give a short, terse explanation on how the door worked, and had Shinji set his password. The man then set an additional password that was to be used by the security personnel only in emergency situations. For some reason, the sergeant made a point of assuring him that there were only those two passwords. Shinji guessed from the man's pointed insistence that much of NERV security had had the habit of breaking into its personnel's rooms fairly frequently. He really wouldn't have minded even if they had. He had nothing to hide.

The two security agents then informed him that he would be required at NERV the next morning, and gave him a time when they would come to pick him up. It was a terribly early time to be up, but Shinji managed a wan smile and a nod. The two agents then took their leave. After all, it was long past time for the night shift to officially take over. Shinji saw them to the door, thanked them for their time, and then shut the door firmly behind them when they walked out. If nothing else he could trust this new door. Even he was willing to trust three inches of reinforced steel. Privacy at last.

Planting his back against the door, Shinji let himself slide to the floor. Pulling his legs up to his chest, and his hands around his knees, Shinji let out a mournful sigh. He still didn't know what was going on, or why he really was still here. The lieutenant had tried his best to explain, Shinji believed, but the man couldn't tell what he didn't know. Looking around the room, Shinji could tell that he still wasn't in his father's good graces, either, though he had no clue what exactly he had done wrong this time. Exist, probably.

Still things were looking a bit up. He had a place to sleep, apparently a job, and he was close to his father, in distance if not actual closeness. The angel attack hadn't been that bad, the bits that he could remember, at least. His arm still hurt like something else, and he knew he'd have a crazy headache for at least a week, but honestly, he'd been hurt worse by bullies at school, even if it hurt a heck of a lot more while in the Eva. Maybe this piloting thing wouldn't be too bad after all.

Feeling somewhat more cheerful, Shinji stood up and prepared for bed. It took some digging through the boxes to find suitable nightclothes and a couple of blankets for the cot, but everything he needed was there. He changed, made the cot, turned out the lights, and lay down on the cot. Within minutes he was asleep.

Then the nightmares began.

* * *

_Section 02 Database – Pilot Security Team Gamma (PST-G) – File 017_

_First Impressions – Shinji Ikari_

_1__st__ Lt. Shiro Yamada_

_First things first, Security matters. The boy seemed relatively receptive to everything that I told him, and seems willing to play ball. Has a healthy sense of self-preservation that should hopefully make it easier on us. Doesn't really seem to be the type to get into trouble or head into the red-light district, at least not by himself. Doesn't seemed to be trained in any manner of self-defense, either, but his combat training should take care of that soon enough. Note to self: Talk to Rob and Mine on what they were ordered to teach the kid. We'll take that into account when deciding how close we'll have to stick to him. I hope they standardize Pilot training eventually, its hell on us Security people. There was a screw up with his residence, but the team and Norio are going to look into it. He seemed to take it as well as anyone could in that situation, and cooperated fully with the three of us there. I don't know what Lt. Mochizuki is doing, but he's putting both Shinji and the Ice Princess in danger, leaving the building like that._

_The rest of it. Kid's horribly confused. Hasn't been told anything. I think he thought we were kidnappers or yakuza killers or something when we first showed up. Somebody in Section 01 is playing games with this kid, and I'm guessing it's probably the Commander. Not going to stick my nose into that hornet's nest, unless it endangers the kid. Seems to have some self-confidence issues, which isn't surprising considering the thing with his dad. Other than that, seems to be a fairly sturdy kid. If he fills out and gains some confidence, he'll probably be a real lady-killer someday. Also seems to be fairly self-sufficient, cooks, cleans, and seems to be reasonably capable of good personal hygiene, which is a relief. Getting someone to teach a kid those things would be a pain. Kid's fairly observant too. He knew I was digging for information. Maybe he share's his dad's paranoia. Note to self: Double check to make sure all relevant medical records have been transferred to Section 4 and get a hold of a copy. Find out if he's got any deadly allergies, or some sickness that doesn't show. Come up with a suitable call sign for the kid. 'Princess' fits the girl I suppose, but I don't know if we should use something similar. _

_Shiro

* * *

_

This chapter is about 1500 words longer than I really wanted it, but I suppose in the end that's the way the cookie crumbles. I went over it, and really didn't find a lot I wanted to cut out that I wouldn't probably use in some way or fashion later. Though I'd appreciate hearing other people opinions on whether there seems to be fat that could be cut off.

And bleargh, Rei is a pain in the butt to write. I have new respect for all those people who write her real well. Emotionless and cold is far harder to write than I expected. I'd appreciate opinions on how I did that as well.

A couple replies to some of the reviews:

There is not going to be a pairing in this fic. I didn't set out to write a story with a concrete pairing, and I don't intend to start writing one now. There will likely be romance later on, possibly with more than one character, but right now that's up in the air. I don't want to be tethered to any particular character at the moment, because declaring a pairing means that I have to generally follow a set of rules about that pairing. I'm not a big fan of that.

Also, on whether this follows the manga or anime version…I am really undecided on that at the moment. I know I need to make a decision soon, because hopefully after the next chapter, I can pick up the pace of the story a little bit and get the plot moving along. I am tempted sorely to try to base it off the manga at the moment, but I don't quite know yet.

As for the next chapter…I don't know when it'll be out. I have to work on some other projects first, so hopefully within the next two months. Sorry.


	3. Spending Time in Preparation

Beginnings and Endings – An Evangelion Fanfiction

Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion, and I have no intention of making a profit of this story.

Chapter 3: Spending Time in Preparation

As was his habit, Shinji woke up early. There really wasn't much point to the habit; he didn't have chores, he had never joined a club, and he didn't train or work out, any of the reasons someone his age might choose to get up early. It was just a defense mechanism like any other. The sooner he woke up, the sooner he could be out of the house, and the sooner he could be anywhere else other than the house. It was hard to live someplace where you knew you weren't wanted. You could feel it even while you slept.

Despite the fact he was no longer even in that house, he still woke up early. He was dazed for a few seconds. He didn't recognize his surroundings and the nightmares had been frightening enough that the sheets on the cot were soaked through. He fumbled for a moment for where his alarm clock would have been at his guardian's home, but after a few moments of reaching, he abruptly sat up in bed fully awake, eyes wide. He'd remembered where he was.

Climbing almost eagerly out of the cot, Shinji took a moment to stretch and try to get the kinks out of his body. The cot was definitely not the most comfortable place to sleep in the world. He was sore all over, and had a terribly neck cramp. He hoped that he'd somehow manage to acquire a bed somewhere today. Maybe NERV had extra ones stored away somewhere that he could request. After all, they had built all these extra building and furnished them. Why wouldn't they have back-up for things that broke?

Shinji carefully made his way to the bathroom, where he wasted no time in cranking the hot water up all the way in the shower. He returned to the main room briefly to rummage in his boxes for soap and shampoo, and then thankfully entered the shower. Within a few minutes, the hot water had soothed away most of the aches, except for the neck cramp and strangely his left arm. He remembered something about somehow hurting his arm during the fight, but he wasn't sure if that was reality or it had been part of the strange nightmares he'd had last night. They had been full of blood and violence, and he definitely remembered the Evangelion and the Angel. And an eye. There had definitely been an eye. And something about it had frightened him to his very core, but he couldn't quite remember it all.

Shinji reluctantly climbed out of the shower, dried himself, and then dug through more boxes for some new things to wear. He didn't have much variety; it was school uniforms and few other button-up shirts with pants. Without much though, Shinji shrugged into one of his old school uniforms. He was suppose to be going to NERV today anyway, and since it was now his…job, he might as well at least look somewhat formal. It was a military installation after all. Maybe they would have some sort of uniform for him to wear.

Feeling hungry and realizing it was about the normal time for his breakfast, Shinji headed to the kitchen. Upon entering it, he once again realized his lack of…well, anything for making breakfast. Including food. Though, having a refrigerator and stove would be nice as well. And some pots and pans. Those would be helpful too. Sighing, he scratched his head, and once again realized how much his father had to hate him. This was no place for a fifteen year old to live by himself. Hell, it was no place for a rat to live by itself. He hoped breakfast was somewhere on the plan for his day at work.

He checked the time on his cell phone. Section Two was supposed to be picking him up at seven thirty. This left him half an hour to…well, he supposed, unpack and clean. Not that there was really much else to do. Exploring was out of the question. He didn't have enough time to get anywhere, and his Security's warning made him think twice about going out alone. He didn't think he'd be a target this early in the game, but it was still best to stay on the side of caution, at least until he knew the city a little better.

Ten minutes later as he was digging through his boxes, he realized he was in slightly better situation than he had expected. His guardian had either been informed or at least suspected that he would be living alone, and had thoughtfully packed a number of things that would come in handy. Like a set of pots and pans, extra blankets, and a full set of cleaning materials, including a collapsible mop and toilet brush, among other things. His guardian certainly hadn't cared much for him, but he had certainly put a lot of effort into packing. The old man had at least been trying to look out for his welfare. It almost made Shinji smile. He got to work.

While scrubbing an exceptionally stubborn stain on the kitchen floor, he heard the sound of a vehicle pulling up to the building. Thinking that it was his ride, Shinji wrung out the mop one last time, grabbed his jacket, and headed out the door. He exited the door just in time to see the van pull away and drive off. Puzzled and slightly worried, Shinji cautiously approached the railing in front of his door and looked down.

He was almost expecting to see a squad of heavily armed religious fanatics charging up the apartment stairs calling out for his death in the name of whatever god they followed. What he actually saw was a familiar heavily bandaged blue-haired girl. Well, he thought it was her. He'd only seen her for a few moments really, and she had been wearing very different clothing, but he thought it was her. Unless girls with blue hair were common in this city. Knowing his father, it might be entirely true.

Feeling a bit better, Shinji relaxed and leaned casually against the railing to study the girl below. She was cute, and he could still remember how warm she had felt in his hands when he had tried to protect in the room where the Evangelion was stored. She had been shivering in pain and fear then, and had looked at him with eyes that had begged him to help. Or at least protect her. Now, at least from this distance, her face was calm, at least what he could see of it was, as the right side of her face was covered in bandages. She stood where the van had dropped her off, not moving an inch, as the wind ruffled the skirt of what looked to be some sort of school uniform.

After a moment, she apparently came to a decision or whatever she had been looking at had disappeared, for she finally began to move towards the stairs. Shinji couldn't remember whether the agents had said exactly where the girl lived in the building, but it seemed that she wasn't on the first floor. Losing interest, Shinji turned to head back to his cleaning. He had maybe another ten minutes before his security detail arrived, and he could get the rest of the kitchen mopped by then.

However, as he turned the door knob to open his door, he heard a strange sound coming from below. It sounded like a cross between a hiss and a moan. He stopped to listen, and after a few seconds, he heard it again. Curious, he wandered over to the rail again, and peered down at the girl. She was just standing on the stairs, maybe on the third or fourth step from the ground. She was shaking silently and clutching the handrail as if her life depended on it.

Puzzled, Shinji watched as she started to take another step. She raised her foot hesitantly, as if wanting to avoid something, though Shinji couldn't see anything on the stairs that might provoke that reaction. However, he did notice that as soon as she started to bring up her other leg, she made the strange noise again. In fact, he saw her whole body flinch and waver before the girl grabbed the railing to prevent herself from falling. It took a few more seconds for Shinji to finally process what exactly was going on, but when it did, he felt like kicking himself. The girl was in pain.

He ran down the stairs and in short order came face to face with the girl. He realized at that point that they hadn't been introduced to each other. His father had called her name once, he recalled, but for the life of him, Shinji couldn't remember what it was. Plus, the girl had been injured the first time they'd met. She might not even remember that they had met. It made the situation more than a little awkward.

Of course, the girl didn't help at all. As soon as he had appeared, she had stopped and stared coolly at him. No word of greeting, no sign that she knew who he was. Rapidly feeling more and more awkward, Shinji's mind shifted into overdrive in attempt to think of something to say to explain the situation. "Umm…I don't know if you remember me or not…But…Umm…We met the other day at NERV…Umm…Do you…need a hand?"

The girl stared at him and didn't reply. She didn't even blink. Needless to say, the response did not make Shinji feel any better. After a moment of staring, the girl seemed to assume that he had nothing else to say and began to climb the stairs once again. Her back had been to him when he had watched her from above, but now he could see her face as she struggled upwards. Her expression didn't change at all, except for right when she began shifting her weight to bring up body up to the next step. She even seemed to be trying to move faster now that someone was watching. The end result was that by the time she reached the landing between the first and second floors she was trembling uncontrollably and was breathing in short harsh gasps.

* * *

Shinji couldn't stand watching the girl hurting herself anymore. He gathered what little there was of his courage, and when the girl headed for the next step, he grabbed her around her waist, and helped lift her up the step. The girl flinched at his touch, but seemed tired enough to not pull away. Shinji turned to give her a wan smile, but found she was pointedly avoiding his gaze. Considering where his hands were, it wasn't surprising. He, himself, was fighting the urge to move away. If anyone had seen them right now, he was sure there would be a gross misunderstanding. His thoughts were interrupted by the girl began shifting her weight to tackle the next step.

By the time they had reached the second floor, the girl had largely given up any pretense of independence. She was leaning heavily on him, and her face had lost its cool composure. She was breathing hard, and, despite his help, the small squeaks of pain had begun to get louder. When they reached the third floor, Shinji was all but carrying the girl, and he was starting to get worried. The girl seemed to be barely conscious, and seemed to be holding onto that little bit with all her willpower. He wasn't sure if she'd make it to the fourth floor. He wasn't sure he could either. The girl wasn't terribly heavy, but he certainly wasn't that strong. He didn't want to drop her, but when he attempted to set her down so he could try to call NERV for help, she began to struggle. He stopped immediately, knowing that struggling would definitely would hurt her more.

After a laborious and cautious climb, Shinji finally set the girl down on the fourth floor. Both of them stood there panting for several minutes, trying to recover from the difficult climb. Shinji was the first to recover, and checked his surroundings. The fourth floor really wasn't all that different from the fifth floor, except it showed a few more signs of habitation. The girl had lived here for a little while at least. The concrete walkway showed a little bit of wear and tear, and from the scuffs Shinji could almost see the exact path the girl walked everyday to leave the building. Other than that, it was no different. Same grime. Same disrepair. Same emptiness. They had both been shoved into corner away from everyone else and forgotten, it seemed.

The girl took a good five minutes to recover, and even then, it was obvious even to Shinji that the girl still was still not well. She bowed briefly to him, presumably in thanks, and without a word, she turned to leave. She took a couple of weary steps, paused, and then turned back to face the perplexed boy. "Ayanami," the girl said, almost too quietly to hear.

"What?" asked Shinji, confused.

The girl blinked, and then spoke again. "My name. Rei Ayanami." Then she opened a door and walked in.

Shinji would have stayed there with his mouth open in surprise for a long while if a white van hadn't pulled up to the building a moment later. He saw Lt. Yamada jump out and head for the stairs, and it took a few moments for his mind to catch up and to head for the stairs as well. They met around the 2nd floor and, after exchanging good mornings, headed for the van.

It was only Yamada and Hansen this morning it seemed. Either they had already switched off with the night shift, or the other two were still sitting in the look-out across the street. Still it was good to have the two men around him. He felt safer and more confident. He needed it after this mornings strange events.

"Umm…This may seem like a silly question…But what exactly am I supposed to wear to NERV?"

Shinji slumped into a convenient chair along one of the hallways of NERV. He had a five minute breather in between the synchronization tests, and whatever was next on the schedule. Since they had arrived this morning, he had been paraded through one set of briefings after another. They had taken three hours to complete, and then he had had to undergo a 'synchronization test.' From what Dr. Akagi, the woman who was apparently in charge of these sorts of things, said, it was meant to measure how well he and the Eva could work together. Or something like that. Whatever it was, it had taken another two hours. And he had been told that that was an unusually short one.

The only good thing that had come out of the test, as far as he was concerned was that one of his guards, he assumed, had brought a uniform for him to wear. He had found it waiting for him after he had washed off all of the terrible smelling LCL. It wasn't anything impressive, but it definitely made him feel like he stuck out less. It was reassuring in some fashion to be ignored by people as they passed by, instead of being stared at. It was also relatively comfortable, which was wonderful, for the plug suit chaffed like nothing else, and his skin was sore everywhere where skin could rub together.

The briefings had been informative, if boring, and he had been formally introduced to most of the people he was supposed to working closely with. The woman who had picked him up at the station, Misato Katsuragi, had run most of the briefings, though she hadn't seemed terribly happy. In fact, for some reason, she seemed to bear some sort of grudge against him, but that hadn't stopped him from paying attention. She was apparently the Director of Operations, though Lt. Yamada had loudly made the point of mentioning that she hadn't been late to this particular meeting. The remark had definitely not been appreciated by the woman, however.

At least he now knew what was going to be expected of him, which made him feel much better. Nothing made him feel more insecure than not knowing what to do. Not that knowing what to do made it any more pleasant. There were going to more Angels. He and a few others would defeat them and save the world. When they weren't in battle, he would be training to defeat them. He would be living in the city for the time being, attending a nearby school, and if things really dragged on long enough, be given a permanent job with NERV if the Angel attacks hadn't stopped by the time he was out of school. He would begin receive a paycheck of a significant amount within a month, and housing and medical was covered by NERV. If he wished to become a full member of the 

UN military, he was guaranteed a spot in one of their officer academies upon graduation from high school and the eventual defeat of the angels. That had been the basics of the briefing, at least, which had obviously been designed to reassure him and to make sure he knew what the benefits of staying with NERV were. Though, it also helped to know that if he left, the world was pretty much screwed.

"Lieutenant Ikari?" asked a deep male voice with a heavy accent to his left, abruptly pulling him out of his ruminations.

"Y-y-yes?" He said, startled. It was a side effect of the uniform. Before he had received it, the staff around him had called him by either just his first or last name. As soon as he put it on, they had immediately begun addressing him by his apparent rank. He still wasn't used to it. It made him terribly uncomfortable. There was a measure of respect in that term that he just wasn't used to hearing being directed at himself.

The speaker was a small Caucasian man, only slightly taller than Shinji. He was wearing some form of gym uniform, which exposed a surprisingly well-built physique. His hair was dark, in a very short military cut, and his face was so covered in scars that it was a wonder the man could see. Shinji guessed it was another American. NERV apparently only took the best, and they grabbed anyone they could from just about anywhere if they needed them. He had seen more people from more countries in the past four hours than he had seen in the rest of his life. The only place that was dominated by his own countrymen was the command staff, which made a rough sort of sense, since they were the ones who had to deal with the locals.

"Please follow me, Lt. Ikari." The man about-faced with military precision, and headed off down the hallway. Shinji rose from his seat with a sigh and followed. Another briefing. Though, he supposed, it was better than fighting angels.

The man led him on what was becoming a familiar long trek through the bowels of NERV. It seemed as if every department of importance had its own particular corner far away from all the rest. As a result, there were moving sidewalks and escalators everywhere, though Shinji wondered why they hadn't just scrunched up all the places together. Just because the Geofront was huge didn't mean they had to fill it all up with useless corridors. Eventually, the man entered a small side door, and Shinji followed with a relieved sigh. His feet were really starting to hurt.

Inside the room was a large gym. Or perhaps dojo was the better term for it, though he wasn't sure, as he'd never taken any form of martial art before. The room was well lit, blandly painted, and the floors were covered in training mats. It was like stepping inside the gym at his school back at his old home, except his gym teacher then didn't look like he could bench press a small car before breakfast. And maybe eat small babies for the said meal, on top of that.

The man gestured for Shinji to take a seat in front of him, something Shinji's feet were grateful for. The man stared at him for several minutes with an evaluating look before 

finally seating himself in front of Shinji. Even then, he continued to stare at Shinji for several minutes, enough to begin to make Shinji start to feel uncomfortable and fidget. Finally, the man nodded, seemingly to himself, and began to speak.

The man's Japanese was very rough, though certainly understandable enough that Shinji could understand him. "My name is Robert Olsewelski. I am…how you say…Master Sergeant from Marines. In America. I am combat instructor, yes, you understand?"

Shinji nodded uncertainly. There was something strange about the man's voice that didn't come from his poor Japanese skills. His voice has a scratchy or raspy sound that made his voice a little harder to understand. After a moment of thought, Shinji was reminded of the way that long-time smoker's sounded when they spoke. Maybe that explained it; he was an American after all.

"I am here to teach you…to fight, that is the word, yes?" Shinji nodded, and the man continued, "To fight with hands and feet, and with things like knives and others. You understand?"

Shinji nodded again, though he felt uncomfortable. Aside from the one time in the Evangelion, he had never fought, or even trained in the basics of martial arts. He had avoided the gym classes that taught the basics at school and had never been in any of the clubs. The closest he had gotten to anything of the sort was being beaten by the local bully, and somehow he didn't think that counted for much of anything.

"Judo and Krav Maga you will learn. Techniques for close range fighting. Move on to knives after you have basics. I am one of best instructors. You must learn quick, yes? World at stake, you must be prepare." The man looked Shinji over again, "Weight training you do as well. Better condition you fight on ground, better condition you fight angels on, eh?"

Shinji nodded uneasily and asked a question, "What…about guns and stuff? I had a briefing today and Miss Katsuragi gave me a list of weapons lockers to memorize. Am I going to be learning how to use the things in there?"

The man took a moment to answer, and Shinji wondered if his question had been understood. Maybe he should go back and use really small words? Or would that offend the man. Offending a combat instructor didn't seem to be the most intelligent thing to do for some reason. But he'd rather engage the monsters from a distance. He wanted to avoid getting close to them.

After a moment, the man seemed to finally translate his question. "Ah! Mine Arakaki will teach firearms to you. I take you there when we are done here. She also very good marksman. You will learn much from her. Shoot things well. But now you will learn from me. Stand up! We begin with the basics…"

* * *

Six hours later, his body was still aching. The man had not been rough, but he had made Shinji go through every kind of physical test imaginable. Running, lifting, crunches, pull-ups, he had done all of those and more. He had been informed, in the man's broken and mangled Japanese, that he was being evaluated. After he had finished everything the man could think up, the instructor had quickly written up some sort of work-out schedule for Shinji to follow. What it said, Shinji couldn't quite say, as the entire thing was in English, and in poor handwriting to boot. There was some sort of exercise facility at NERV where he was suppose to work-out, but the man's instructions on how to get there had been confusing at best and incomprehensible at worst.

After they had finished, the man had escorted him to a shower and changing room, and he had showered for the third time that day. Then he had been lead on yet another long hike through the mostly empty corridors until they had arrived at the shooting range. He had then been introduced to the short, petite, gunnery trainer, Mine Arakaki. She had handed him a pistol, pointed him at target, and told him to shoot. The reason for this had become apparent later, when she had shown him the target with only one hole in it, and the hole wasn't even in the area he was suppose to be aiming for. The gun had held eight shots. Then he had gotten a lecture on the basics of marksmanship from her, and another schedule, though this one was, thankfully much more understandable. She had even been able to translate the combat instructor's schedule and directions, which Shinji was thankful for.

Just as he was packing up to leave from there, one of the bridge techs that he had met during the briefings in the morning had run up. Shinji had found himself running all the way back to the pilot changing room and get ready for another synchronization test. Something had gone wrong with the data collection for the first test, or so the tech said, and they needed him to retake the test so that he could start working on battle simulations the next day. That had taken another two hours, due to both inexperience by the bridge crew and faults in gear that were being used for the first time. According to Dr. Akagi afterwards, it was lucky that it had only taken two hours. So much of the equipment had never really been used before, and some of the systems simply weren't up to the task. It didn't make the test any more pleasant.

After two more hours of sitting in the plug of the Eva, he had been more than ready for another shower, and some sleep. It had been a long day, after all. But waiting outside the shower room was another of the bridge techs, the only woman of the crew. He had almost just gone back into the shower room to change back into his plug suit for another round of tests, when the mousey looking young woman had stopped him, and had explained that she had been assigned to help him buy new furniture for his apartment. He had sighed in relief, and they had taken her little car (followed by a white van with no windows, he noticed with what was almost a smile) to a local furniture and appliances store.

The shopping had definitely been the highlight of the day. He was given a limit to spend, of course, but it was enough to more than adequately satisfy his needs. The bridge tech, Maya Ibuki, and Lt. Yamada, who had appeared out of nowhere halfway through the shopping trip, had both given him sound advice on his purchases, and he walked away 

from the store with a good collection of inexpensive but good quality items that were to be delivered and installed the next day. It really wasn't that much, but it seemed to be a step in the right direction. If nothing else, it made his life more comfortable, and considering the beating he had taken today, that sounded very attractive.

After the shopping trip, he had eaten with Maya at a local little family restaurant, and she had told him about her job. To be honest, none of it was terribly interesting or even understandable to Shinji, but it was nice to get to know one of the people who would be taking care of him during battles. So he listened, and allowed himself to relax a bit and enjoy himself. She was a nice enough woman, but she talked about Dr. Akagi way too much.

The trip had finally ended when the tech had dropped him back at his apartment. He had considered checking in on…Rei? He thought that was the name she had given. Well, the First Child. After a few minutes of thought, however, his courage failed him, and he trudged unhappily up the steps to his apartment. He was a little bit worried about her. She had barely managed to get up the stairs with his help. Had she managed the rest of the day without hurting herself any more? She hadn't seemed pleased with his help this morning, and he doubted she be any more pleased to see him at her door to check up on her. Maybe he'd ask her up for dinner when his stove arrived. That was a neighborly thing to do, wasn't it? Or maybe it would seem forward. He didn't want her to think he was asking her on a date or anything.

Shinji sighed, and walked into his apartment. It was the same as he had left it. Barren and depressing, but at least mostly clean. He should probably do something about the 'mostly clean' bit. The furniture and appliances would be arriving tomorrow, and it wouldn't do to have to set them up in a messy room. He quickly changed out of his uniform into something more suited to cleaning, and got to work. He had a few hours to spare before he needed to sleep. Things were going to get busy.

* * *

_Section 02 Database – Pilot Security Team Gamma (PST-G) – File 031_

_Contact Report – Shinji Ikari_

_1__st __Lt. Maya Ibuki_

_Umm…I'm not quite sure how to write one of these things, but Dr. Akagi said that since we still don't know much about the Third Child, I should submit one. Earlier today, I was approached by Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki and asked to accompany Shinji on a shopping trip. I had no plans so I agreed, and he gave me a NERV credit card to buy Shinji's things with. He told me to treat myself and get something as well as thanks. I think he winked at me. The Sub-Commander is a nice man._

_I picked up the Third Child after the second synch test at the pilot changing rooms. At first he wasn't too happy to see me. I think he thought I was there for more tests or something, but after I explained, he seemed relieved, and maybe even a little bit happy. _

_We didn't talk a lot on the trip over to the outlet. Its this nice little store on the North Side that has pretty good deals and a good variety of stuff for just about any apartment. I know the owner, she lives in my apartment complex and makes pretty good lasagna…Ah, that's a bit off topic, isn't it? Sorry. I've never done one of these before._

_The shopping itself went really well. The owner was more than willing to help us choose, and Shinji seemed to have a pretty good idea what he needed. About halfway through, a Second 2 agent arrived that Shinji seemed to know, and offered his advice as well for some reason. Well, anyway, Shinji doesn't really seem to care much about the look of things, most of his choices were pretty plain, though more than enough for his needs. He spent a lot of time on the stove and refrigerator, though. Maybe he knows how to cook? Maybe I can get him to make me dinner one of these days as thanks. I've been eating too much take-out recently…Ah! Off topic again!_

_Afterwards, we went to a little place that I'm rather fond of, and had dinner. He still didn't talk a lot, but he's a champion listener. He listened to my rambling for about half and hour, and didn't seem to get bored. Well, I'm sure he was, but he was polite enough not to show it. That's a good skill for a boy to have. _

_After dinner, I dropped him back off at his apartment. It really is in a terrible neighborhood isn't it? I wonder why the pilot's are assigned to live there. I mean it is away from everybody else, which is good, but it really is far from the nearest access point. Wouldn't it make more sense for them to be housed in the Geofront? Goodness knows there's enough space there for them to live. It certainly would be more convienient._

_Umm…It says here I'm supposed to offer general impressions of the subject…Umm…He's a nice kid. Quiet and a bit shy, I guess, though I really guess I have no room to talk. He seems to be adjusting about as well as he can, considering this is only…what, his third or fourth day here? I hope he's alright…_

_Maya Ibuki Synchronization Technician_

* * *

Wow, its been a long time hasn't it? --;;;;; Sorry everybody, but life kinda just took off. School, work, and I even chaired an anime convention. Needless to say, I've been busy. Though, that's not really an excuse, I suppose. I am however still alive, and expect to see more work from me in the coming months. I am working on projects, (As well as started on a book! A book! A real one!) darnit!

And the next chapter of this will jump forward a bit to Shinji's first day of school, as well as the first part of the 4th Angel, I think, if everything goes as planned! Please look forward to it! (Even if it'll be a while, knowing me.)


	4. A Step Forward Into Terror

Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion and I have no intention of profiting from this story

Chapter 4: A Step Forward Into Terror

Shinji took one last look at Section Two's van idling in the parking lot of his apartment before shutting the door and heading for the bathroom. He smelled something fierce. He certainly couldn't go to school the way he smelled; he had been barely able to stand the stench the entire trip back from NERV. Even Sgt. Kawasumi had commented on it, and he was the most tactful of the bunch.

As per his orders, he had started a rigorous workout and training program in order to be prepared for additional Angel attacks. It was difficult and time consuming, but Shinji wasn't one to question orders, even if it seemed strange that he needed to be in shape when it was the Eva that was actually fighting. Their explanation had consisted of a lot of strange terms like 'increased biological similarity' and 'greater synergistic loads' in order to 'improve physiological synchronicity.' He had agreed unconditionally to any and all training halfway through the lecture, and Dr. Akagi had let him leave with a smirk on her face.

Things had gone relatively well in the beginning; he had a lot of free time, after all, just sitting around waiting for the next attack. He had scheduled to work out whenever he was needed at NERV. However, shortly after he had settled into the routine, he had been informed by Captain Katsuragi that he would have to begin attending the local school. Everything, like synch tests and the rest of his physical training, suddenly needed them to take place in the evening to accommodate classes. As a result his exercise program was moved to the morning. The very early morning.

Not that he complained too much. He was an early riser by nature; so adjusting his schedule by an hour wasn't terribly difficult. His bodyguards complained a bit about it though; his workouts were scheduled right during their shift change. So every other day, one group would either have to come earlier or stay later, which resulted in grumpiness all around. Shinji had apologized for the inconvenience, but all four of him had looked at him in surprise and had laughed off his concern. It was their job to protect him after all, no matter what bloody stupid schedule he had chosen to follow. Or so Lt. Yamada had so colorfully said. So thus, a schedule of working out, eating breakfast at NERV, coming home to shower and change, and then being driven to school had been developed.

Shinji showered quickly, and then dressed himself in his school uniform. Not that it was much of anything, a pair of black slacks and a white button up shirt. It garnered none of the respect his NERV uniform did, but it did allow him the anonymity that he craved at school. With it, he was just another student, with little to care about but passing the exams and maybe asking the cute girl in the back of the room on a date. Or simply fade into the background as he was wont to do. When he donned the _other_ uniform, it was like the responsibilities of the world were draped across his back. He knew which one he really preferred.

On the way to the door, he grabbed his school suitcase and the small duffel bag that contained his changes of clothes for the rest of his training after school. Pausing at the mirror to adjust his clothes one more time, he headed back outside and down the stairs. Nodding to Sgt. Thilvhali, who was quietly smoking a cigarette by the van, he threw his gear into the van, and then headed back up the stairs. There was one more person who rode with them to school.

During the first week he had attended school, he hadn't bothered coming home at all in between his workout session and school. After all, NERV had showers, and he could change there as easily as anywhere else. However, one day he had forgotten his suitcase, and they had had to hustle back to his apartment to retrieve it. They had arrived back at the apartment complex to find a struggling Rei Ayanami sprawled on one of the landings between floors, breathing heavily, and nearly unconscious. In order to get to school, she had apparently been trying to take the stairs by herself again while still being heavily injured. Both Shinji and his security detail had been appalled. They had rushed the girl to the nearest emergency clinic, and had gotten her patched up.

Ever since then, they had made it a habit to pick the girl up before she could attempt something just as foolhardy. Shinji often wondered why her own detail hadn't helped her, or even just stopped her. He had asked his team, but they had all exchanged looks and had refused to answer, despite continued prodding. It was undoubtedly some sort of internal Section 2 politics (NERV was apparently a festering hive of this sort of thing), but Shinji hadn't yet let the matter drop. After all, he didn't want to end up as the only pilot capable of saving the world. Being one of two, no matter how much the other was injured, was frightening enough.

"Ayanami, are you ready?" He asked after knocking. He refused to enter her apartment without confirmation anymore. She had somehow developed the frightening habit of leaving her door unlocked, and he had simply gone in one day, instead of knocking. Needless to say, he had been completely embarrassed when he had walked in on her naked in the middle of her breakfast. He had immediately left, but then she had asked him about it while in the van on the way to school on a day when Lt. Yamada had come in early. And the man hadn't had the sense or the discretion to keep it to himself. By the end of the day, everyone in NERV had apparently heard about it. He hadn't heard the end of it ever since.

"Yes." Came the faint reply from inside the apartment. Shinji, having confirmed that, walk casually back to the van, and climbed in. A few moments later, Ayanami climbed in as well, struggling only a little with her still bandaged arm, then the van left.

He was a little disappointed that she had made it to the van herself. Up until the day before, he had had to help her down the stairs. It had become part of their routine. Yesterday however, she had informed him that she had recovered sufficiently enough to manage on her own, and that she would not require his assistance anymore. The statement hadn't really come as much surprise. Ayanami had healed quite rapidly. But he had rather liked being depended on. Especially since she had blatantly refused the help of every member of his bodyguard.

"Good Morning, Ayanami!" he said, trying to be as bright and cheerful as possible.

She turned to look at him consideringly for almost a full minute, then gave him a sharp nod in response and returned towards staring at the front of the van.

The girl herself, however, was still a complete enigma.

* * *

School had always been sort of a refuge for Shinji. He wasn't a spectacular student by any means. Languages and the sciences had always been his worst subjects, and that was completely ignoring physical education classes. But school had been a refuge from his apathetic foster home, and thus was remembered with almost fond memories. School had also introduced him to both music and math, two of the few things he could claim he was good at.

Unfortunately, the last week at school had largely convinced him that he would be learning nothing. The obviously underfunded school's teachers spoke little of anything other than Second Impact, and often seemed to not bother covering the material they were supposed to be teaching. Which was problematic, considering their tests still did. Most of them seemed to be retirees and pensioners who had returned out of some sort of sense of duty as Japan's education system gradually restored itself after the worldwide disaster that was Second Impact.

Though to be honest it wasn't as if the teachers really felt the need to exert themselves. After all, the classroom was largely empty. It had been built to house maybe 30 or 40 students, yet there were maybe fifteen of them paying varied amounts of attention to the teacher. When he had arrived, there had actually been even less. A couple of the students had been in a shelter that's entrance had collapsed and a few others had left the city to escape the Angel. One even had a part time job working for Section 6 as a construction worker that had kept him away for a few days. The rest of the students had just never come back; transferring to places that wouldn't regularly become warzones. All those who remained had parents who worked at NERV or, in the case of the boy who worked for Section 6, Ayanami, and himself, were employed directly.

His computer beeped, distracting him from his thoughts, signaling that he received a message through the class chat. However, when he checked for the name of the sender, he was surprised to see that the message did not have a labeled sender. When he opened it and read the message, his surprise deepened into suspicion.

_Are you the new pilot? Y/N?_

He jerked back from his computer, and tried to scan the room for the source of the message. A few of the girls who sat in the back waved gently at him, but he saw no one else really paying attention. His first instinct was to simply answer the question truthfully. After all, why not? Everyone knew that Eva's were piloted by kids, it seemed, and all the other kids in the class certainly seemed to know Ayanami's identity. He had certainly heard the rumors about himself. After all, who would be crazy enough to want to transfer into Tokyo-3 right after an Angel attack had leveled a considerable section of the city?

But then his good sense (and a good chunk of healthy paranoia, carefully cultivated by Lt. Yamada over the past several weeks), kicked in before he even raised his hands to type a reply. He didn't know who this message was from. Since it didn't have a name attached, it could even be someone hacking into the school servers from outside. Answering could in fact have dire consequences somewhere down the line, as unlikely as that was. Plus, he really didn't want the attention. School was supposed to be a diversion, a way of getting away from all of the stresses of piloting. It couldn't go on forever, but for now, he would do what he could to preserve it.

He typed 'No', hit enter, leaned back in his seat, and ignored the sounds of disappointment from around him.

* * *

"Listen, punk. I don't believe you were telling the truth back there in class. And to be completely honest, I don't really care. I've built up a lot of stress over the past couple of days, and beating you into the ground will relieve most of it." Said the black haired boy.

Shinji looked up at his tormentor from where he had been roughly thrown to the ground when he had been blindsided by the boy. He hadn't been expecting any trouble, so he had been thrown off balance by the larger boy's push. He inspected himself carefully for injuries, and finding none, carefully climbed to his feet. The boy continued to talk for a little longer, with his glasses wearing friend chiming in comments on occasion, but Shinji wasn't paying any attention. He was worriedly looking for his bodyguards.

It wasn't that he was worried that they weren't going to come save him if need be. He knew they were likely waiting just out of sight, discussing their options if the scuffle turned serious. He was worried about quite the opposite. He was worried that they would descend on the boy with all of their righteous wrath and strength, and in the process ruin Shinji's small patch of normality. He was much more willing to be beat up, than to lose that.

"Hey! Brat! Are you paying attention to me? 'Cause if not, I can end this right now, if you want." Said the boy, cockily. His glasses-wearing companion took that opportunity to back off to a safe distance. Whether it was to avoid being drawn into the fight, to have a head start running from the teacher, or both, Shinji didn't know.

"Y-yes, I am. Why are you doing this?" Shinji asked, not quite able to speak without a stammer of fear.

The boy heard it to, and smiled, "Because I think you are a dirty liar, pilot-boy. My sister was hurt during the battle with the last Angel, because your piloting skills sucked. I think I'm owed my pound of flesh." He cracked his fingers threatening, and Shinji couldn't suppress a flinch at the sound.

He felt like someone had knocked all of the air out of him, as if the boy had already punched him in the stomach. He hadn't heard that anyone had died in the attack…Soldiers had certainly died before he had arrived. He'd seen several of the aircraft shot down around him, but he hadn't heard of any of the civilians dying. Wasn't he supposed to be protecting them? "W-what are you talking about? I'm not the pilot. Why would I do something that crazy and dangerous?" Shinji said, lying somewhat unconvincingly.

"Oh?" The boy raised an eyebrow. "Then why did you just transfer in? Most of us think someone coming here during the angel attacks is just crazy. You have to have a reason, and a darn good one."

That was a question on somewhat safer ground. He had prepared an excuse just for that sort of question, though Sgt. Hansen had helped to flesh it out with real enough details to make it believable. "My uncle's a civil engineer who specializes in emergency repair work. He got hired because NERV wasn't prepared for the destruction the Angel's did. He brought me along because I have no where else to go." He shrugged. "I'm just as unhappy about being here as you. I don't want to die in an Angel attack."

That argument seemed to have some sort of effect on the boy, and he spent a long moment considering it. Shinji let himself feel a bit of hope that that would end the confrontation. He was sadly disappointed. "Well…I still don't believe you. And as I said, it doesn't really matter. I'm going to clobber you either way. Sorry, kid."

And with that, the track-suit clad boy rushed Shinji, fist upraised, ready to strike. And in that moment, something in the boy's posture clicked in Shinji's brain, and his own feet and hands repositioned themselves in response. Though he had only been in training for a few weeks, it had been enough for him to recognize, even unconsciously, an opportunity to defend himself. And the boy ran straight into a somewhat sloppy, but perfectly recognizable beginner's judo throw.

The jock found himself lying on the ground with the breath knocked out of him, with a confused looking Shinji standing over him. They stared at each in surprise for a long moment, before the boy spoke up.

"Ow. That hurt." The boy said, sounding a bit dazed and distracted. Not that Shinji blamed him. He was feeling a bit of both of those emotions himself, "My name's Touji by the way," the boy said, as he awkwardly pulled himself into a sitting position.

"Err…I'm Shinji." He answered, somewhat unsure how to proceed.

"I'm no expert, but I think the Judo Club is looking for new members, you know," Said Touji, unsteadily pulling himself to his feet.

"Ah…Oh, really…I'm not really that good." Shinji said, somewhat confused at the direction the conversation had taken.

Touji appeared to try to laugh, but only managed a harsh cough. "Neither is the Judo Club. I'm sure you'll fit right in."

They stood for a few more moment in awkward silence staring at each other. Shinji didn't really know what to say. He wanted to apologize to the boy, but he was having a hard time believing what had happened. He was worthless and couldn't do anything right. How had he successfully defended himself? He hadn't even wanted to. If the boy's sister had been hurt, even accidentally by him, he deserved some sort of punishment. But his body had moved almost automatically. Sgt Olsewelski would be proud, but Shinji felt absolutely terrible. He had hurt someone.

"Ikari, there is an emergency at NERV. We must go," Said Ayanami, appearing from out of thin air, it seemed.

Both Shinji and Touji jumped when she suddenly spoke. The girl had approached soundlessly. Shinji, who had experienced this more than once in the past few weeks, still found the girl's stealthiness surprising and somewhat unnerving.

"What? Wait! W-what's wrong, Ayanami?" Shinji managed to stutter out, trying his best to avoid Touji's suddenly renewed glare.

"It is a-" all of a sudden, a loud, piercing alarm interrupted her, and she patiently paused until it quieted, "Angel. We are required at NERV. I will report first, if you are not ready?" She asked, with some small degree of urgency. It was the most emotion he had heard out of her yet, he noted unconsciously in the back of his mind.

Shinji reluctantly turned to Touji, who seemed to be working himself up into real anger this time, and offered a small, helpless shrug. He wanted to apologize for lying and for his sister, and anything else that came to mind, but he didn't have the time or the words to do so. So he settled for something that he hoped would reassure the boy. "Sorry. I-I-I'll do better today. Promise." And with that, he took off after Ayanami, who was already almost to the parking lot where their car was waiting.

He didn't even see Touji's face drain of anger, and be replaced by an expression of worry, helplessness, and confusion.

* * *

No matter how routine it had become in the past three weeks at NERV, Shinji still felt uncomfortable being dressed in the plugsuit. There was something about the way the blue and white skin suit clung to him in the most embarrassing places that made him blush. Plus, if he wasn't completely clean when he put it on, it chaffed terribly. He shuddered to think what his skin would look like if he ever had to put it on right after going to the beach.

The thing was that Shinji would have been perfectly fine with the suit if he was really only required to wear it in the Eva. However, during an Angel attack, he was required to wear it at all time anywhere he was in NERV, just in case he was suddenly deployed into battle. So, as the Angel made it way towards Tokyo-3, Shinji was ushered around the NERV complex almost completely naked and exposed. Or as exposed as one could be when almost completely covered in clothing. It certainly didn't help him any when Ayanami entered the briefing room and sat down next to him in her own suit (albeit cut to not disturb her injuries) which left even less to the imagination than his own suit. And he learned the hard way that the plugsuits were not built to allow for…expansion.

Not that anyone else in the briefing room noticed his quiet suffering. Technicians of all sorts filled the theatre style seating; paging through reports, having intense conversation with each other, or typing frantically at the consoles provided for each seat. The room was mostly filled with faces that Shinji did not recognize. He saw the chief of his Eva's ground crew and a few of his staff, but none of the Section 2 personnel that he was most familiar with. Shinji and Ayanami were seated near the bottom, right behind the bridge crew.

Abruptly, the screen in the front of the room flickered on, and Captain Katsuragi entered the room, deep in conversation with the Deputy Commander. The room quieted significantly, and Shinji watch as the room as one straightened up and shifted their attention to the front of the room. After a moment, the Captain finished her conversation with Commander Fuyutsuki and proceeded to the podium to the side of the screen with firm, military strides that contrasted with the skimpy clothing she was wearing. Apparently, today had been her day off, and the alarm had caught her by surprise. That made him feel slightly better. During training, the Captain often scolded him for being caught by surprise during simulations. It was nice (though perhaps a bit mean-spirited) to see her also caught unawares on occasion.

The Captain fiddled around with the computer on the podium for a few moments, before grabbing a laser pointer and turning to face the crowd. Her voice was cold, distant, and very professional, which was a far cry from her usual dry sarcasm and scathing performance reviews. "As of 0900 hours Tokyo-3 time, the missile destroyer _Ashigara_ detected what we have now classified as the Fourth Angel, Shamshel. Acting on orders from the fleet headquarters at Sasebo, she did not fire upon the Angel, but dispatched her helicopter to track it," The major fiddled with the laser pointer for a moment, then suddenly the screen lit up with a picture on one of the oddest creatures that Shinji had ever seen. Though unfortunately, probably due to lack of high quality photo equipment, the picture was a bit blurry.

"This is one of the photographs the crew on the chopper took of Shamshel. At 1000 hours, the Angel made landfall and a squadron of F-22s from Yokota Air Base took over for the _Ashigara's_ chopper," She paused to acknowledge someone in the crowd before turning back to her presentation. Shinji noted the man's unfamiliar uniform, and assumed he was a representative from the American base located there.

"At 1030, an E-3 joined them in the area, as well as several Predator reconnaissance drones. Here are the pictures from the Predators." Much higher quality pictures replaced the blurry one in quick succession. The crowd of technicians began to take frantic observations and notes as the Captain began to present her small department's findings.

"As far as we can tell, the Angel possess no external weaponry, though, as we have learned from the Third Angel, this is not always the case," It took a moment for Shinji to realize that the Captain was describing the energy lance thing that had nearly killed him and had in fact cracked the skull of his EVA. He could have done without the reminder, "A squad of VG-11s, the VTOL gunships we use, for those who do not know its formal designation, moved in to probe the Angel's defenses. They were initially completely ignored, even when the Elevens opened fire on the target. However," Captain Katsuragi paused to change the slide. The next slide was a movie, "This, however is footage taken from one of the Predators when one of the VTOLs attempted to physically block the Angel's path," Shinji flinched and almost closed his eyes as he watched the systematic destruction of the squadron. "There were no survivors. However, none of the Predator's were targeted. At the moment, we assume that unless the Angel is physically prevented from proceeding, it will ignore all attacks, at least of the level that the Elevens were inflicting."

A technician towards the back raised his hand, and the Captain acknowledged him. "Does that mean we will be attempting to delay or destroy the Angel with an S2 bomb of some sort?"

Katsuragi shook her head, "No, my staff and I have consulted with the U.N. military command, and have come to the conclusion that such a strike would be largely ineffective. We are in fact planning no holding action until the Angel reaches Tokyo-3."

The assembled crowd began mumbling to itself at that remark, and Captain Katsuragi let them talk amongst themselves for a few moments before gesturing for quiet. "I see no need to waste lives and resources trying to uselessly delay the Angel. According to the analysts of Section 3, the holding action against Sachiel cost us 4,321 men and about 337 million U.S. dollars in equipment. Resulting in a delay of about…6 minutes, give or take 30 seconds or so. These numbers do not include civilian casualties and damages" The muttering abruptly completely died. "The N2 mine delayed the Angel for approximately 3 or 4 hours, time which we desperately needed to prepare and equip our newest pilot. We do not have need for those hours at the moment, as our pilots are here and ready to deploy, so we have no present need to drop another N2 mine."

Shinji was a bit ambivalent about the Captain's last remark. A couple hours of extra preparation was always nice. With all the computer problems he had been sitting through just doing sync tests, some extra time to prep Unit 01 would have been welcome. He turned slightly to look at his ground grew several rows up. They, too looked slightly displeased, but most of the rest of the crowd looked somewhat relieved. An N2 mine could really screw up the local scenery, and with the Angel approaching so quickly, there would be little time to evacuate the surrounding area. Which would undoubtedly lead to massive civilian casualties.

"We have decided to instead exclusively use the automated defense systems of Tokyo-3 to delay the Angel once it enters the city to give us some time to properly deploy the Eva. Section 6 has informed me that eighty-six percent of the defenses are functioning, and they expect to be able to bring that number up to ninety-one percent by the time the Angel arrives. We expect the system to last for at least ten to fifteen minutes if properly deployed, giving us ample time to position Unit 01," the captain turned and addressed Shinji directly, "That brings us to the meat of this briefing, Pilot Ikari. We will deploy the Evangelion when the Angel has completely entered the city and is busy dealing with our automated systems. We don't know how quickly the Angel will sense you, so you will need to move quickly. Your will deploy armed with one of the rifles that we've spent the last week training you with, as well as the progressive knife for close-combat, if it should come to that. We hope it won't come to that."

She hit a button on the console and the next slide pop-up, this time a computer simulation. "You will move in close enough to neutralize the Angel's AT field, and fire on the Angel's core. If possible we will deploy you to the Angel's flanks, as it apparently sees objects in front of it as targets. If not, you will need to maneuver to the best position to shoot the target's core," the captain frowned for a second, then continued to speak, "…Unfortunately, we really don't know how much damage the rounds in the rifles will do to the Angel. If the initial attack doesn't work, you will need to engage the Angel in hand to hand combat. At that point you will be largely on your own. Do you understand, Pilot Ikari?"

Shinji gulped, and did his best not to sink into his chair. He wanted to disappear, but at Captain Katsuragi's words, the entire room had turned to stare at him. He could feel their fear and worry. He didn't want to add any more to that. They were depending on him. On him, the failure who's father didn't even want him. It was frightening, but it felt good at the same time. He could do something for these people. Or at least die trying. And perhaps some of them might even remember him fondly. Maybe his death wouldn't be completely in vain. Maybe some of the people would even survive if he screwed up. So, he nodded, just barely enough to be seen.

The Captain stared at him for a few minutes longer with an unreadable expression. Eventually, she either saw what she was looking for, or gave up searching for it, because she turned away and continued the briefing.

"Now, are their any general questions before we start on the technical aspects of this briefing?

* * *

"So, Shinji, you think you'll take the Angel out as quick as you did with the first one?" asked on of the younger techs from his ground crew. They were preparing him for insertion into the Evangelion. It wasn't a particularly long or painful process, but the techs did their best to insure it went well. And in this case, almost all of Unit 1's crew was there. The crew was made up of people of all ages, looks and nationalities. The youngest ones were barely over 20, and the oldest was Dr. Horaki, who was the head of the crew. Some seemed to want encouragement, and others seemed to want to give it.

"Uh…I'll do my best?" He said shyly. Most of the crew laughed, but the rest of them looked worried.

"Of course, he will!" Said a different tech. "He knows if he doesn't, Captain Katsuragi will come down and kick him from here to the moon." He paused to consider his remark. "Actually, that might not be a bad thing," he smiled lecherously. "Go ahead, kid, if it gets the Captain down here dressed like she was at the briefing, I'm ready for the end of the world." The rest of the crew laughed.

Dr. Horaki, however, was one of the ones who had looked worried. Though admittedly, Shinji thought that Dr. Horaki always looked worried. The man walked almost everywhere with a frown on his face. "Don't worry about doing your best, Lieutenant. Just worry about killing the Angel. And getting back. You're our only hope, after all."

"Ah, don't get him all worried, Doc," said another one of the younger technicians, "He's Shinji Ikari, Slayer of Angels! He's ours!" The rest of the crew, both worried and not, cheered. And even Shinji had to smile. The crew had taken to him quickly, which had surprised him to no end. They treated him like a surrogate little brother or son, and had made many of the long sync session almost unbearable with their banter and antics. They did their best to take care of both him and his Unit. They were good people.

The loudspeaker suddenly began blaring, distracting and drowning out the group of techs. "Attention! All personnel in the Eva hanger please assume battle stations. Preliminary preparation for Evangelion launch have been complete. Plug insertion in Five minutes. Repeat. Plug Insertion in Five Minutes. Attention! All…"

The crew exploded into action, but not before each of them walked up and shook his hand. Shinji was touched if not a tad bit frightened, by the show of support. It wasn't quite enough to give him confidence, but it relieved a little of the stress. If nothing else, these people believed he'd get the job done. They needed to believe it. Even if the job was saving the world. They couldn't afford to think that he might lose.

Dr. Horaki hit the door release, and the hatch shut with a loud clang. He could hear, but not see the rest of the crew doing last minute checks all over the plug, carefully going over seals, connections, and the main body. If the plug failed to sync up properly with the main body of the Unit, it would result in at least an hour maintenance cycle to fix the problem, at least according to regulations. They couldn't afford that sort of delay. Not with the Angel nearly directly overhead.

He felt rather than heard Dr. Horaki tapping to hatch twice. No problems. Ready for insertion. He sighed in relief. Immediately after, he felt a sharp jarring motion, as the plug was moved into position. He waited patiently for a few moments, then, suddenly the plug began a short, dizzying spin as it was inserted into the Evangelion.

The controls in front of him began to light up one by one, as the plug began to sync itself with the Eva. He heard the telltale gurgle of LCL being pumped into the plug. The radio finally synced with the command bridge, and he heard the Captain's voice. "Pilot Ikari? Are you ready?"

If he could have seen her, he would have looked her directly in the eyes. "Lt. Ikari, p-prepared for launch."

* * *

_Section 02 Database – Pilot Security Team Gamma (PST-G) – File 203 Training Progress Week 3 – Shinji Ikari_

_M. Sgt. Robert Olsewlski (Hacked From Personal Files)_

_File 8XF4feD2:_

_Jim, I've changed my encryptions like you asked last time you called, but I still think NERV is still intercepting my files. At this point, there really isn't anything I can do about it. The good news is, I'm pretty sure NERV isn't tampering with the copies that you are getting, but crosscheck them with the paper copies that should find their way to you in the next few weeks. Another good thing, NERV doesn't really seem to care that I'm sending these._

_Anyway, back to the fate of the world and other such deep matters. Shinji Ikari, aka Pilot Ikari, aka 2__nd__ Lt. Shinji Ikari, has advanced to the second level of the training faster than I expected. He started it earlier this week. Its not particularly impressive by any means, especially considering the guys I usually train, but its far better than what I had really expected. I dunno, I think he might be a natural at this sort of stuff despite his slow start, which I suppose is good considering he's supposed to be saving the world and all that jazz. If he continues to progress, in six or eight months he might even be Marine material. If he hasn't died or killed all the Angel's by that point. _

_As far as I can tell from Mine's comments during staff meetings, he shows about the same progress with his firearms training. I was only able to observe one of his sessions with her in the past week, but he seems to be shaping up well. He's reached the point that he can at least hit the target now consistently with both pistols and some of the smaller rapid fire weapons Mine's been working on him with. I reckon he'll be hitting the bull's-eyes within the next two weeks, and maybe doing it consistently within a month after that. Considering he only spends maybe an hour a day with each of us, I think he's moving at a pretty impressive rate._

_I haven't really been able to dig up much on his personal life. Lt. Yamada is a good agent, and Sgt. Hansen has so far been resistant to talking with a fellow Yank. I can't fault either of them really. Keeping a kid alive has to be a huge exercise in not going insane. All's I know is that he's settled in at his residence and has some sort of tentative friendship with Rei Ayanami. That'll be a first._

_Anyway, Jim, when this is all over, I'd have to say we need to make a good effort to court the kid. His skills as an Eva pilot, as well as the training that NERV is investing into him will undoubtedly make an excellent addition to the Corps. And to the U.S., I suppose. Get him before the U.N. grabs him permanently. Or Japan for that matter._

_Well, I should go. Keeping these short is wiser. Give my regards to your wife. And format a nice copy of this for the boys at the CIA._

_Bob_

* * *

Author's Note: Finally another chapter! Its been a while, especially considering for a while during the summer I got a lot of writing done. Well, I had real trouble with writing the Touji section. I'm still displeased with it, but I can only beat a dead horse for so long. However, once I got past that (after two months of just staring at it), things moved pretty quickly. Writing the briefing thing was fun, I wish I had the excuse of writing that for every Angel, but that would be silly, so I'll probably only do that type of scene maybe one more time.

Questions for Readers: First does anyone know if the VTOLs have a name in Eva anywhere? I looked and couldn't find one, so I gave them one of my own. If anyone has material on them, I'd appreciate it if they could PM it to me or leave a link in a review. Second, is Shinji too OoC in this chapter. He's everywhere in this chapter, and I changed some of the language to make him…well, more Shinji-like. I'd appreciate if anyone could point out sections that he's unbearably OoC. Thanks!

See ya next time!


	5. Angel Attack

I do not own Evangelion and I have no intention of profiting from this story.

Chapter 5 – Angel Attack

Now that he wasn't panicking, Shinji realized that the trip up the launch tubes was quite the rush. It was something like a high speed roller coaster with extremely sudden twists and turns. If it hadn't been designed to take him to face a monstrous other worldly entity bent on destroy all humanity, it might have even been a fun trip. Instead he merely concentrated on controlling his breathing and trying to prevent his heart from bursting out of his chest. At least he didn't feel like throwing up this time.

He heard the bridge bunnies and Captain Katsuragi chattering in the background checking with each other and giving him updates on his position. He ignored them, at least as much as he thought he could. He'd know when he got to the surface, and it wasn't like he'd miss the angel, as massive as it was. He simply replied when there were pauses in the conversation, but otherwise kept quiet. He wasn't sure if he could win, but he didn't want to believe that he would die either. Dying would mean failing. There were a lot of people depending on him. The people at NERV, in Tokyo-3, across Japan. The whole world in fact. If he died, everyone on the planet would die. It was a frightening thought. He was responsible for an entire planet's worth of people.

Then he felt the slight deceleration that signaled the final approach to the top approach and the time for thinking was at an end.

"Are you ready, Lieutenant?" Captain Katsuragi asked one more time. She'd been asking it every five minutes for nearly the past hour.

He nodded, unsure if his voice would betray him if he spoke. Then, with a sharp jerk that he felt with his entire body, the elevator arrived on the surface. He took a deep breath and gripped the controls tight. This would be like the simulations. He'd go out, kill the thing, and then withdraw back into the Geofront. It would take five or ten minutes at best. Dr. Akagi had assured him of that. Major Katsuragi had assured him of that. He still was trying to assure himself of that. He rolled out of the elevator and onto the road facing the direction the map told him where the angel was waiting.

He blinked in confusion when he saw it. The pictures hadn't quite done it justice. It looked odd, to say the least. Sachiel had at least looked moderately human like with a clearly defined head, arms, and legs. This one, Shamshel, he thought Captain Katsuragi had called it, looked like some sort of manta ray crossed with an earthworm. It had some sort of arm-like structures growing out of its…torso, he supposed, and he could see them undulate and twitch as the creature advanced. Watching it made him feel a little bit nauseous. It didn't really look all that threatening, but it certainly didn't look pleasant either.

"Lieutenant Ikari, please move forward and engage the enemy. Get close enough to neutralize its AT field, then fire at its core with the rifle. Nice and simple, got that? No fancy heroics," ordered Captain Katsuragi.

He studied the angel for a moment, before taking a few steps forward. "Do we know were the core is?" he asked.

He heard the Captain consulting with several of the others on the bridge for a moment before she replied. "We've had no real sightings of it, but we think it might be on the underside. If you can't get it to show the core, you'll likely have to move in for hand-to-hand combat, Lieutenant."

He nodded nervously, and then tried to tune out the rest of the com chatter. It wasn't like they could help him that much at this point, anyway. All of their projections were based off data taken from the Third Angel, and this thing didn't look or move anything like that one had. At this point, he was essentially the expert, having killed a grand total of one.

He approached it slowly from the west, rifle at the ready. The Angel didn't quite seem to know what to do or where to go. It floated back and forth over a small area, always returning to a specific point and resting there for a moment before moving off to make another pass. Shinji assumed that it wanted to get into the Geofront, but didn't quite know how. Which seemed a little odd. The Third had essentially attempted to blast its way down into the Geofront and had nearly succeeded.

"Command, I don't think this Angel has the weird flare ability the last one had," he reported, as he inched the Eva closer to get a better look. Not that it was easy to inch a stories tall giant robot anywhere.

He heard muted discussion again in the background as he did his best to work his way close enough to the Angel to fire the rifle accurately. It was a bit difficult. Just about every bone in his body was screaming at him to stay as far away from the thing as possible and light it up with everything he had on him, but that wouldn't necessarily be effective. The more rational side of his brain knew that getting close enough for a guaranteed kill was the better choice. That observation didn't make the journey easier or any less nerve wracking.

"Tactical tentatively agrees with you, Pilot Ikari," he heard the Captain's voice say, "It would have used it to try to break the Geofront, if it had. So if nothing else, you seem to be safe at long distances," He felt rather than saw the grimace, "Not that we have weapons on hand that could take advantage of that."

He muttered a quiet affirmative, and then began to set himself up for his shot. The Angel was well within range of his pallet rifle, and he was also in range to negate the creature's AT field. It wouldn't be a perfect shot. The pallet rifle was built for a high rate of fire, not accuracy, but it would do. Probably. If he could hit the core.

His took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. He could feel his hands shaking. Hell, his whole body was shaking. This wasn't nearly as bad as last time. They had a plan. It would work. The world would be saved, and he'd be back at his apartment by the end of the day like nothing happened. Maybe, if he was lucky, the Captain would say something nice about his performance. Or his father would when he got back from wherever. He'd been conspicuously absent from the briefing.

He opened his eyes. "Deploying AT field and engaging target," he muttered, concentrating on forming the barrier. He saw it shimmer into being in front of him, and then abruptly disappear as it presumably met and canceled the Angel's own field.

The response was immediate, but not completely unexpected. The Angel whipped around to face him almost faster than he could follow, and the…front? Nose? Of it rose off the ground, and he could see bits of it starting to shift around, probably deploying its weapons. Unfortunately for the Angel, that presented Shinji with an excellent shot at the now exposed core. He squeezed off a short burst, and began to slowly back away.

He saw the first rounds slam home on the target, and was appalled by the lack of damage they seemed to do to the creature. Judging by the sounds coming from the radio, the bridge crew was just as horrified as he was. He fired another short burst, and then another, continuing to back up, hoping that the shots would do something. He knew a good number of the bullets had hit the core, and the rest had at least hit the angel, but they did little other than stir up a bit of smoke.

"Command, the rifle doesn't seem to be wor-!" he was interrupted by something large and purple that whizzed by the Eva's head and sliced cleanly through the building next to him. The Angel had managed to deploy its own weapons.

He backed up wildly, firing a bit more haphazardly in hopes of covering his retreat somewhat. Not that it seemed to do anything. The Angel advanced, floating towards him at a steady speed. The purple thing that had whizzed by seemed to be some sort of whip or other sort of beam weapon. He watched it slice through the buildings in its way like they were made of butter. He didn't want to know what it could do to his Eva, but he had a sinking feeling that he'd shortly find out.

Suddenly the Angel surged forward, and the whips arced towards him faster than his eyes could follow. He managed to throw himself desperately backward, saving his machine from being decapitated, but when he got to his feet, he noticed that he was now only holding half a rifle. The Angel was fast. Far faster than he was.

"Ah…Err…ideas?" he panted nervously. He was ridiculously outmatched. The gun didn't work, and getting into the Angel's range would be suicide. He was beginning to panic. This wasn't anything like the simulations! This was just as frightening as the fight against Sachiel had been!

An abrupt silence descended from the other side of the radio, and with a sinking sensation he knew suddenly that the bridge crew and the Captain were essentially as clueless as he was. So he did the only thing he could do. He turned the Eva and ran the other way.

He heard explosions and other sounds of destruction from behind him as the angel chased after him, but he didn't pay attention to them. He needed time; time to come up with a plan, or for those on the bridge to come up with one. He had little defense against the whips when the rifle was so ineffective, so a holding action was impossible. So the only option left was to trade distance for time and hope that someone had a bright idea.

Unfortunately, in his haste to put distance between himself and the Angel, he forgot that the Eva's power cable was only so long. His headlong escape came to a sudden stop as he felt something abruptly pull him from behind, then snap. The Eva lost its balance, and Shinji was so surprised by the sudden jarring, that he was unable to catch its balance before it fell, crushing small buildings below him.

To his credit, the fall was about as smooth as he could make it, and in less than ten seconds he was back on his feet and had turned to face his incoming attacker. The ten seconds lost was more than enough time for the Angel to catch up. The Angel was on him, energy whips hissing through the air, before he was prepared. He managed to protect the face of the Eva against the first hit, but cried out in pain as he felt the armor on the arms began to bubble and melt. And that was just the first blow.

He tried to back up to give himself some room to maneuver, but the Angel relentlessly pressed forward and he felt the whips' sting up and down the Eva's body. It didn't hurt nearly as badly as Sachiel's opening strikes had, but they still hurt. And they were essentially unblockable, at least with only his bare hands. He'd guard one side; the Angel would go to the other. If he found some cover, one of the Angel's whips would quickly tear through it, often while he was busy dealing with the other one. And on all top of that, he was running out of power.

"A little help? Please?" He pleaded, while ducking behind another building. He could hear the bridge crew scrambling, and knew that they were doing the best they could. They had to have some sort of back-up plan for a worst case scenario.

"Shinji!" He heard the captain yell. "Hatch X-13 is a block from your position. Get th-" Shinji didn't hear the rest of her order due to his head abruptly impacting on the back of his chair hard enough to make him see stars as he felt the machine suddenly accelerate. He was conscious enough to look at the screens before him and see the ground a good bit below him. Apparently the Angel's whips were strong as well as deadly. He had to be a couple hundred feet in the air. And falling fast.

The landing was only slightly less traumatic than the take-off had been. He kept his head from smacking the chair again, but the wind was still driven painfully out of his lungs by the sudden stop. Or liquid, he supposed dazedly, in this case. He paused for a moment as he gulping in the LCL once again in a desperate attempt to get oxygen back into his system. He knew he had only a precious few seconds to do it before the Angel would be on him again.

He brought the Eva dazedly into a sitting position, and scanned the area for the Angel. It was about where he expected it to be, charging up the hill towards him. He scanned the area for anything that could be used as cover. The ridge that he had plowed into was heavily forested, but there was nothing that would work for the Eva. The city was probably the only place where the Eva could adequately hide.

He moved to readjust his grip on the mountain to let himself stand up when he noticed movement near his hands. He ordered the Eva to zoom in on the movement, and felt his stomach drop. There were people down there, huddled between his outstretched fingers. Some sort of divine providence had apparently been looking out for them, because if they had been a few feet either left or right they would have been a very nasty mess for Section 6 to clean up. That was definitely a complication he didn't want to deal with.

He didn't have time for a more thorough examination. His timer was down to under a minute, and the Angel was coming fast. He could almost predict the Captain's next order; after all, she had managed to yell it at least partially out before his little flight. Get to a hatch and prepare for redeployment. He looked at the indistinct figures almost cradled by his fingers again. That would leave the civilians here. Maybe not to die, certainly. But certainly exposed to danger. He remembered the conversation he had had with the kid at school. His sister had been hurt in the last battle. People had already been hurt, however accidently, by him. He didn't want that. He didn't want to hurt anyone. Or anyone to get hurt, for that matter. Less than 50 seconds to go.

Making his decision, he levered the Eva into a standing position, and ignoring the Captain's sudden shout, drew his progressive knife from its shoulder mounted sheath. He flicked it on with a thought, and felt the slight buzz work its way up his arm. It was reassuring in a strange sort of way. Like a cat purring or something. Less than 40 seconds.

The Angel was almost on him. The Captain was screaming at him to retreat. He ignored her. She screamed at him all the time. It was easy. He shifted his weight forward, and took a moment to carefully plan his path. If he missed, everyone would be dead. The whole world. He had to get it right the first time. He jumped. Less than 30.

Unforeseen complication arose. The Angel reacted faster than he expected it to. He felt a gut wrenching pain in his abdomen as the energy whips drilled their way through the Eva and out the other side. He ignored it the best he could. It was a blessing in some ways. If the whips were inside of him, after all, they weren't anywhere else interfering with his jump. He gritted his teeth and rammed the progressive knife into the core. 20 seconds.

His momentum from the jump and the subsequent attacked overbalanced them both. The Eva slammed into the Angel with all the grace of a freight train. The Angel hit the ground hard, and Shinji felt the progressive knife slid a little further into the core as his weight pressed down on it. The momentum continued to carry them down the hill, rolling over each other all the way down. Shinji used one hand to grab the Angel to prevent himself from being thrown off, while the other continued to press the assault. He nearly blacked out when one of the whips caught on something and was wrenched terribly to one side. He didn't want to see what the wound looked like now. 10.

They came to a rolling stop at the bottom off the hill and he felt small buildings being crushed beneath them. He was thrown partially off the Angel as it struggled to right itself. He managed to keep one hand on the progressive knife however, and with all of the Eva's strength, he dragged it back down to the ground with him. 5.

The angel was struggling to throw him off again, but he refused to let it. The whips were being pulled in opposite directions and he felt like he was about to be ripped in half. He brought one fist up as he watched the timer inch toward zero and with the last of his strength, brought it smashing down upon the knife.

He heard a loud crack, and then he was left in the dark.

* * *

"So, you want to tell us all what exactly you were doing out there, Lieutenant?" asked Captain Katsuragi. Shinji winced. She was pissed. Pissed beyond belief. And she had good reason to be as well. He had disobeyed a direct order and had endangered everyone. Even if he had succeeded.

The post-fight debriefing was a much smaller and far more personal affair, much to Shinji's displeasure. Gone was the massive theatre style room filled with people that he could simply blend in with; what replaced it was a small meeting room with around ten or twenty people crammed into it. The captain, the Vice Commander, Dr. Akagi, the bridge crew, and various members of both the tactical branch of Section 1 and Section 3 were in attendance. Most of them didn't seem too unhappy, while others, like the captain were absolutely furious.

"…There were civilians up there…I thought…I thought I should try to protect them," he answered weakly. His argument had no substance. In the grand scheme of things, after all, two or three people were very little when held up against the fate of the entire planet.

The captain brought her hands to her face and massaged her forehead. "I understand your friends are important to you, but you can't let them distract you from the bigger picture, Lieutenant."

Shinji frowned, "What do you mean by friends, Captain?"

The captain raised an eyebrow, "Well, I know you probably don't know them all that well, Pilot, so maybe not friends, but they are certainly people you know. No need to be so impolite about it."

Shinji blinked, then his face went white and he whispered, "I knew the people on the hill? Who…Who were they?" The nightmare where his landing had been slightly different returned full force. He had almost accidentally killed someone he knew. He couldn't think of many people that he knew, but that only made it worse. That made it a terrifyingly small list.

The captain just stared at him for a moment, before abruptly turning to the water cooler in the room and poured herself a glass. She gulped it down in one gulp, refilled it, and then chugged it once again. Wiping her mouth with her arm, she walked over to the small screen in the room and hit a few buttons. On it popped up two slightly familiar faces, the two kids he had…fought he supposed, early in the day. Touji, he remembered was the name of one of them, the one who had punched him. He hadn't caught the name of the other.

"These two apparently broke out of their shelter to watch the battle. Are you telling me you didn't recognize them?" the captain asked slowly, in the calmest voice he'd heard from her a while.

He hunched his shoulders in a way that could possibly be considered a shrug and shivered. "I…I really didn't have the time to really look at them. They were there, so I…I just had to do something. They might have d-d-died if hadn't done anything…" He muttered, looking at the ground.

He expected the captain to yell a bit more, but he was surprised when she sort of just slouched in her seat and went silent for a moment. He didn't really understand her reaction. Why was she concentrating so hard on whether he knew them or not? He had nearly killed them either way, so if she wanted to get angry at him, why did it matter?

"…We'll save the rest of the discussion on this topic for another day. Just know that you are on notice, Third Child. I expect you to follow orders. Not doing so risks the entire world." She frown, sighed, and laid her head on the table, "And then of course, we move into the section of this meeting which shows just how much we actually don't know about the Angel and how incompetent we look. Lt. Ikari, your action toward the end was probably for the best, as much as it pains me to say it," much of the rest of the table either nodded or muttered in agreement, "As we have yet to receive any of the high powered gear for the Eva's and the rifle proved COMPLETELY useless, a fierce surprise close-combat attack was probably the best, if not the only choice."

"We've still yet to show whether or not the rifle really was completely useless, Captain! Please wait till the final reports come in before you make such remarks," Dr. Akagi said sharply, but even Shinji could see that she was only making a token objection for her department. "…However, we will be looking into increasing the power of the rifles, as well into special ammunition to see if we can make them more effective."

The captain nodded, "Thanks, Ritsuko. Also, I think we've learned that information gathered from previous Angel's is essentially useless for dealing with other Angels. I know it's a little early in the game to say that, considering we've only faced two, but Sachiel and Shamshel were essentially completely different creatures from a tactical point of view. Sachiel seemed to be more close-combat oriented, which worked well for us," Shinji had doubts about that, but wasn't crazy enough to voice them, "but Shamshel was more of a mid-range type fighter. The Eva has really no way of getting close with its current equipment without taking damage. Vice Commander, your thoughts?"

Vice Commander Fuyutsuki apparently took the question to heart, as he was silent for several moments. "I believe it is highly likely that you are correct, Captain. It was foolish of us to believe that the Angels would attack in a way or even a form that resembled our own. I'm not quite sure how, but we should alter our tactics and perhaps even our training to deal with things that aren't exactly human."

Captain Katsuragi and Dr. Akagi exchanged a thoughtful look. However, it was Dr. Akagi who spoke first, "I suppose we could look into building something like a hunting rifle, or something else suitably high powered. We've been assuming that if we simply hit it with enough bullets, it would die like a human, to be completely honest. From what we've seen so far, however, it requires either a great deal of precision, or a great of force to do any sort of real damage to the creatures."

The captain all of a sudden brightened up, "Hey, Ritsuko, wasn't the JSSDF worked on a high powered energy rifle or something? That might work. Wouldn't it?"

The doctor bit her lip, "The positron rifle?...It might do the trick. I'll look into it. From what I heard though, they still have power output problems. I'll put my team on that, as well as with more conventional weaponry."

"Good, the sooner and better the pilots are equipped, the better we'll be. I'll inform Sgt. Olsewelski and Sgt. Arakaki to adjust their training accordingly," the captain said with a little bit of her old confidence back. "Ritsuko, how long till Unit One is fully operational again?"

"A week," Dr. Akagi replied. "The damage was fairly negligible. Most of the armor on the arms and legs has already been switched out. The regeneration on the torso will take the longest, but that'll be done in two days. We've run out of the torso armor plates, though, for both the front and back. They will be in by the end of the week."

The captain frowned, "That's an essential part, why are we out of them? We're in a life or death situation here. Not having the parts could cost people's lives, for goodness sake!"

The doctor shrugged, but this time it was the Vice Commander who spoke up. "Unit One is, after all, only the test type, Captain. She was never expected to go into combat, at least as early as this. As such, we are at the moment, short on several essential parts for her. The rest are on back-order," his mouth quirked up in a little smile, "however, being that Evangelion parts are quite the specialty item, it takes some time to make them."

"I…see," said the Captain, her voice still betraying some of her anger. Shinji was admittedly a little confused on the whole thing, but what the Vice-Commander said made sense, despite the fact that his Eva didn't really seem to be much of test type. It had been armed and ready to go when he had got here after all.

The Vice-Commander took the Captain's comment as an invitation to close the meeting. "Well, all and all, I have to congratulate you all on a battle well fought. It certainly didn't go nearly as well as we had hoped, but we survived, took out the target, and sustained relatively little damage. Good job, everyone," he turned and looked and looked at Shinji with a slight smile on his face, "And a heartfelt thank you to our young pilot who managed well despite the situation. Excellent job, Shinji."

Shinji felt the blood rise to his face with remarkable speed. It only got worse when someone in the room began to clap, and soon, most of the rest of the room joined in. He couldn't bring himself to look up, and stared at the table. He managed a small bow, and the room dissolved into laughter as well as clapping. He continued to sit at the table as the room began to empty. Some of the staff patted him on the back as they passed, and some whispered encouraging words in his ear. One of the women in the science section whispered something that made him almost pass out in embarrassment, but she laughed it off and patted him on the back.

All too soon, the only people in the room were Shinji and the Captain. She, like him, had remained where she had been seated, but instead of staring at the table, her eyes were staring at the wall with eyes unfocused. He wasn't sure what she was thinking about. He knew what he was thinking about. He didn't deserve the praise. He had performed badly. He had disobeyed orders. He…He…had almost killed those two boys. Two kids just like him. Because he hadn't been ready. He hadn't been good enough. They had almost paid for it.

"I'm sorry." The Captain said out of the blue, not taking her eyes off the wall.

"Huh? Uh, F-For what, Captain?" asked a confused Shinji.

She took her eyes off the wall and frowned at him. "Just Misato, is fine. I don't get a lot of respect, but it's annoying to hear every other word."

He recoiled slightly at her sharp words, but nodded nonetheless.

She sighed again, and rubbed her eyes with a hand. "Look, I'm kind of bad at this, so pay attention since I'll only say it once. I'm sorry that I dropped the fact that you knew those kids on you. I really thought you knew…And I guess I'm kind of sorry for how I've been treating you. I was angry at someone else, and I guess I've been taking it out on you," she gave him a wan smile, "I found out today that I guess I was underestimating you."

She set her head on the table, and after a moment seem to fall asleep. Shinji stared at her for a while in incomprehension before turning the lights off and quietly leaving.

* * *

He said goodbye to Sgt. Kawasumi and Thilivhali at the door to his apartment and collapsed on his couch. He was tired. No, that was understatement. He was exhausted. He had showered at NERV and then had grabbed a bite to eat at one of the cafeterias with his bodyguards before finally heading home. He hadn't been sure why exactly they had wanted to join him at first, but by the end of the meal, he understood that they had been politely keeping away his well wishers. He was thankful. He wasn't sure if he could have handled anyone else congratulating him when he had so nearly killed everyone.

He had been running the battle in his head over and over all night, trying to find his mistakes. He had found them alright, but they were admittedly fewer of them than he had expected. He had overall handled the encounter very well…up until the last three minutes. The only good thing during that period was that he hadn't panicked. He hadn't made good decisions, but in the least he had had control over himself.

A sharp knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. He stared at the door curiously for a few moments. He hadn't ever had a visitor before. He was momentarily suspicious, but realized that anyone coming had probably been cleared by his bodyguard. Or had killed them all, but Shinji very much doubted that. They were professionals after all, and the only people who were after him were crazy religious fanatics. Hopefully.

He walked to the door and activated its external camera. He blinked when he saw who stood on the other side of the door. It was Rei Ayanami, of all people. He hadn't seen her since the briefing, but he certainly hadn't expected to see her at his door. Despite his best efforts, he had only rarely managed to get the girl to even speak. Why would she try to stop by?

Now quite curious, he shut off the camera, and opened the door. "A-Ayanami! Would y-you like to come it?" he asked, managing to keep his stuttering to a minimum.

As usual, she simply stared at him for a moment before she walked in the door. He closed the door behind her, and watched her nervously as she quickly scanned the room. Eventually her gaze returned to him, and they blinked at each other for a few moments.

Shinji didn't know quite what to do, so he simply went with the flow. "Ah…Would you like something to drink?" he asked, and then quickly added, "Also, you can sit down if you want."

Again she stared at him, and then moved to sit his small kitchen table. After seating herself, she spoke for the first time in her usual near monotone. "I will have water."

He quickly pulled a glass from one of the cupboards and filled a glass of water for her. Thinking quickly, he pulled out another glass and filled one for himself as well, then served them both at his table and seated himself.

She took a small sip from her glass, and then put her glass down and resumed her staring. Shinji felt the awkward silence that always seem to follow the girl around becoming even more awkward. He debated quickly between attempting some small talk or simply trying to get the girl to get the point. He wasn't quite sure if she would understand the point of the small talk, so he simply got to the point. "Was there something you wanted, Ayanami?"

The answer this time came immediately, which almost surprised him. "Tell me about today's mission."

He blinked. "W-Why? I mean, you watched it all from the bridge, right? I'm not sure that there is much more that I could tell."

Her stare seemed to intensify somehow. "This may be true. However, I wish to hear your thoughts on how the battle went. I have yet to fight an Angel. I wish to know what I might encounter during the battle. At the moment, you are the one with the most experience in this regard."

"Oh," was about all he could manage. While her statement was true, it wasn't a reply that he had expected to hear from Ayanami. He figured, from her behavior, that she was the type to bury herself in the technical reports for all the details. In fact, he had seen her carrying the reports from the first battle for the past couple weeks. She didn't seem to be the type to come for advice.

"…Well, I guess I can do my best, if it's that important. The first thing, I'd have to say, is that you really need to be quick on your feet. The bridge crew is…"

* * *

"Thilivhali to Base, over," Yuu heard Mashudu rumble from in front of the radio.

"Reading clear, Sergeant. Status?" came the reply. He wasn't sure who was on com duty tonight. One of the guys from counter-intelligence, probably. It was about their turn on the rotation.

"Princess has entered Knight's apartment, over. Update her status accordingly." Mashudu replied.

There was silence from the other side of the line for a moment, "Please confirm, Sergeant. Princess is in Knight's Apartment?" The man sounded a little incredulous, even over the radio.

"Confirmed. Thilivhali out," Mashudu replied.

"Wanna bet rumors will be everywhere by the morning? I'll give you good odds," Yuu asked with a small smile.

Mashudu snorted. "Not worth it."

* * *

_Section 01 Database – Office of Chief Tactical Officer – File 1027 _

_Battle Report 002 – Shamshel_

_Captain Misato Katsuragi_

_We are unprepared. That is the first thing I must drive home to anyone reading this report. We survived this battle only slightly better off than the battle against Sachiel. This is due to a number of factors, but all of them essentially boil down to the fact that we are unprepared to battle the Angels._

_Proceeding from the least important to the most, our pilot is not up to par for this. This is not his fault, though his behavior against this angel was certainly reprehensible. I still do not understand why we did not attempt to secure Lt. Ikari at an earlier date like both Lts. Ayanami and Soryu. He simply has not received the training to deal with the Angels or combat in general that the other two have. My questions about this have continued to remain unanswered, and, judging by the responses I have gotten from Command, they will not be. Special note again goes to the pilot's actions during today's mission. Foolhardy though they were, his choice was probably the best in an unfavorable situation. Also, any man who is willing to put himself in danger for those he doesn't know is a man to be respected, no matter his skills. We need to quickly bring the Third Child up to full fighting form as well as get the other Children out in the field as soon as possible._

_Secondly, our equipment has proven to be ineffective against the angels. The pallet rifle model we used clearly did not possess enough power to even mark the Angel. This is frightening as we have ordered a number of models of very similar make for widespread use with the Evangelions. Section 3 is working on improving them to the best of their ability, but I remain doubtful whether or not any normal munitions will prove effective. Of course, the progressive knives have proven their worth in battle, so perhaps there is some hope after all. It should be obvious that without effective weapons we can not wage war effectively._

_Third and our most important failure is in regards to tactics. To be completely honest, my staff and I are completely in the dark on how to fight the Angels. We are doing our best to learn and adapt as quickly as possibly, but until we learn about the Angel's methods more, there really is little we can do other than tell the pilots to take out the core. And a blind monkey could tell them that. I think I will need to restructure my department to provide more as-it-happens advice, as we largely left our pilot high and dry against this angel. This cannot happen again. We must do our best to give our pilots the tools to complete their objectives._

_Captain Misato Katsuragi_

_Director of Operations_

* * *

Authors Note: Finally done! Wahaha! Several things for this chapter. Please give me feedback on the fight scene! I'm not all that happy with it, but after staring at it for days, I've decided it's as good as I can make it. I realize that the fight overall is pretty different from the canon one, so I hope it at least holds up. I debated on a lot of things for it. For instance, Touji and Kensuke almost didn't make it out alive. I had considered letting them die right there on the field, but in the end, I let them live. After all, the theme of this story is kind of 'The more things change, the more they stay the same.' And there was enough Shinji angst. Killing friends might come later. Also the make-up with Misato this chapter, because as fun as it is for her to be at odds with Shinji, she's still one of Shinji's important people.

School is out, which means that chapters will get written faster. It'll probably be still be months though. I'm slow. And lazy. Continuing the cycle, I'll be working on a chapter of _Bloodstained Rose_ next, unless, like usual, a one-shot pops up in my brain. Like a Nanoha one. Or Full Metal Panic. Or possibly Code Geass. Mmmm…Sweet possibilities.

Macavity


	6. Borderline Case

I do not own Evangelion and have no intention of profiting from this story.

Chapter 6 – Borderline Case

With a sigh, Lt. Shiro Yamada packed the last of his gear into his bag and glared at his superior sitting across the table from him. "It's been a long couple of weeks, you know. I'd like to again protest being sent out on a mission, Major. This isn't the time to leave my charge unprotected" He stated.

Major Arima, shrugged, but looked mildly apologetic. "Objection noted. If I could do something about it, I would, Shiro. But orders have come down from Lt. Colonel Sokolov. I can't refuse an order from the head of Operations. This mission is extremely important, and no one else has your combination of skills," He glanced down at a paper in front of him, "You'll take a V-TOL to NERV-05 in Moscow, where you'll meet up with the rest of your team and receive your briefing. It says you'll be back with-in two weeks."

Shiro gave him a long suffering look. "Can't cut a break, can I? We've got Angels coming out of every orifice; not forgetting to mention that Lt. Ikari's cover was blown at school, his new training schedule, and now this? What's up with that, Koizumi?"

Koizumi sighed, "Well, at least we've dealt with the fallout of Lt. Ikari's cover being broken. Though the blame for that lies both on you and on the kid. You let yourselves get too careless. Not realizing that he was wearing the wrong uniform? A beginner's mistake, Shiro. I know you guys have been stretched pretty thin, but we were lucky something more serious didn't happen."

Shiro rolled his eyes, "As if a horde of journalists out for the story of the year wasn't serious. After the first three hours, we had to pull the kid out of the building to keep him from being stampeded to death. Takeda and D'Aubigne from Section 5 are still breathing down my necks. I'd almost rather deal with the journalists," he said sourly.

The major laughed, "I don't blame you. The guys from Section 5 are pretty crazy. They eat, breath, and sleep the media. Each of them is a master spin-doctor in their own right. Anything that messes up one of their little plans is considered a threat. Your mistake undid months of their work pretending that the Third Child was in seclusion."

Shiro grumbled, but didn't argue. "At least, the first problem solved the other. Now that his cover's blown, we can pretty much grab him out of school whenever we need to get him to training. Nobody is going to ask questions about NERV business. We'll need the extra time. The kid's new training schedule is a killer. Scott's been drawing comparisons with Basic at Quantico. I have to agree. It's not healthy. Nobody can take that kind of training for long. Especially a fourteen year old."

The major once again simply shrugged. "He'll have to. The world is in his hands. He's got no choice."

Shiro didn't respond. Instead, he hoisted his bag to his shoulders with a grunt and checked to see if his boots were well tied. "Tell Yuu to watch over the kid's sleeping patterns. Kid's been having crazy nightmares lately. And grab Lt. Mochizuka and shake some sense into him. The team won't be able to cover for him with me gone. I haven't seen him or his team around the Princess in _months_. I don't know why you haven't canned his entire team. In a few days, she'll be one of only two people who can save the planet."

The major, as always when this topic came up, was completely silent. Shiro didn't quite know what to make of it. Politics, he assumed, most likely involving the commander. After all, there had to be a reason for leaving one of their pilots completely unprotected. He hoped there was, at least. What was it with the commander and screwing with the pilots' lives?

* * *

Shinji didn't know quite what to do about the dreams. They were coming every night now. There weren't always the same. Some night's he'd dream about the final moments with Shamshel. In the dreams he would make some mistake, and everyone would die. He'd seen hundreds of variations of that scenario already. Those were bad. However, the ones where he accidentally crushed his classmate Touji and his friend were somehow worse. He would land wrong or be in the wrong place, and their broken bodies would end up smeared against his Eva in a horrifying, bloody mess. Those dreams he would wake up screaming with tears running down his face.

He wanted to talk with someone about them, but he wasn't quite sure who to turn to. Lt. Yamada was the one who had popped into his mind first, but he didn't want to make even more problems for the man who was literally putting his life on the line for him. The same went for the rest of his security team. Dr. Akagi was supposedly in charge of his health and he had briefly considered going to her, but her cold and relatively brusque manner was intimidating. He could barely hold a conversation with her; he couldn't even imagine talking about anything personal with her. The only person his age he knew well enough to consider talking to was Ayanami. Yet despite the fact that she had taken to occasionally hanging out at his place, even he could sense that was a minefield to be avoided at all costs.

So he had done as he always had; he'd found a quiet place away from people to sit and think. There was a large catwalk in the hanger that stretched in front of the Evas that was almost always deserted. This was likely due to the fact that staring into the eyes of the machines was more than a little disturbing. Shinji liked it, though, because he could sit and watch the techs work without them noticing he was there. His eyes and mind could wander along their separate paths and no one would be the wiser. Well, until someone bothered to track him down for the next training session or sync test.

He'd retreated to his spot today after a particularly intense training simulation. The tactical team had been trying to come up with different kinds of Angels that he might eventually have to fight. Over the past few days he had fought Angels that flew, swam, launched missiles, and seemed to tap-dance across the battlefield. Today had been one of the stranger ones. The staff had called it 'the Angel of Spaghetti and Meatballs' due to… well that was what it looked like. It had been a mess of bizarre, undulating long strands with two orbs on top, one of which was the core, and the other was a decoy. The fairy-tale angel hadn't been particularly difficult to fight all things considered, even if he had to constantly re-identify which core was the real one. The real difficult part of the simulation had been the addition of a large crowd of refugees stuck in the middle of the battle. He'd accidentally killed them by dropping a city block on them.

He'd managed to hold himself together during the simulation, but only because he'd constantly reminded himself that it was indeed only a simulation. However, he had clawed himself free of the test plug as soon as the scenario had ended. Skipping the post-exercise debriefing, he'd chosen to take a long shower instead. Eventually, he had realized that it didn't help him feel any cleaner or less guilty. After dressing, his feet had eventually wandered to his spot. He knew he would have only a few moments to himself. He was scheduled for another session at the gunnery range with Capt. Arakaki starting in 20 minutes.

He was sure the tactical team hadn't meant for the mission to bother him. They were a serious and dedicated group of people whose purpose was to kill Angels, just like he was. Still, he couldn't help resenting them a bit for throwing such a mission at him. He didn't want to have to think about the possibility of other people on the battlefield. His hands were already quite full with trying to save the world. Having to worry about that and people running around while he was trying to fight was asking too much. He could barely keep himself alive as it was! He didn't want others to die because he couldn't properly protect them.

And in the end, he supposed that was the core of the problem. He wasn't really sure he could protect them all. Despite all the training they were drilling into him, he was very aware he was just one very frightened, insecure kid. A giant fighting robot, no matter how powerful and destructive, wasn't going to change that. One day he was going to mess up and lots of people were going to die or get hurt. Like the one boy's sister, who was, last he heard, still in the hospital. At least he'd only nearly injured the brother. But even that was causing him problems. If a group of people like those in the simulation died…he wasn't…he wasn-

"Something bothering you, Shinji?" said a familiar voice from further up the walkway.

He didn't even bother to turn his head. "Not particularly, Captain Katsuragi," He answered formally, hoping she would go away and leave him to think.

She snorted and walked up to the rail beside him, "I told you to call me Misato, kid. And you're a terrible liar, you know?"

He opened his mouth to retort, but he heard a brief clicking noise, and then the sound of a deep breath. He smelled smoke. "I didn't know you smoked, Cap-Misato," He said instead.

She joined him leaning on the railing, and he noticed, like usual, she was in her casual clothes. He rarely saw her in uniform. More surprising was that she had a slightly guilty expression on her face. "Don't tell Ritsuko. I'm trying to keep everyone from noticing. It's an old habit that I thought I'd kicked forever back in college. Picked it up again after the Third Angel attack. Helps me deal with nerves. So what's bugging you, kid?"

He ignored her question and watched the cigarette slowly burn down. "Does it really help?" He asked curiously.

She took the cigarette out of her mouth, and looked between him and it with a mildly questioning expression on her face. After a moment, she stuck in back in her mouth and took a long drag. "Not really. It's all in my head, I suppose. It's not a good habit to pick up, Shinji," She threw her head back and laughed, "And Ritsuko would be after my head for getting our pilot addicted to something. It'd teach her a lesson about her own smoking habit."

He nodded and sighed, feeling slightly disappointed. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting. He'd do just about anything to get some of things off his mind and let him sleep at night. If Captain Katsuragi couldn't handle things without outside help, how was he supposed to? She was far more confident and experienced than he was. And even she, by her own admission, was having problems with…well, whatever she was having problems with. He wondered if they were anything like his own.

She took another drag, and eyed him curiously, "Now, I know something's wrong. Nobody asks about cigarettes like that unless they've got some sort of problem. Out with it, kid. If you've got a problem, it could affect your piloting. One mistake and we could all end up dead."

He flinched at her words, and immediately heard a sigh from Misato. "So that's it, huh? Can't say I'm surprised. It's to be expected. We're all afraid of screwing up. Soldiers have it the worst. If we fuck up, somebody dies."

He felt a surge of anger suddenly well up inside, and before he knew it, he was yelling. "And if I screw up, lots of people die! How the hell am I suppose to deal with that? Even when I don't screw up, people still could get hurt!" All of a sudden he was holding back tears, and he tore his gaze away and stared sullenly down at the Eva below.

The Captain was silent for a moment, except for the periodic puffs on her cigarette. "…I think I see it. The real issue, I mean. You're still hung up on those kids aren't you?" she asked quietly.

He nodded sullenly, refusing to look at her; not wanting her to see his face and embarrassment at losing control. She didn't think much of him, he knew, despite their tentative steps towards civility. He didn't want to make her think any less of him. He wasn't sure if he wanted her respect, but he knew he wanted something from her. Understanding, maybe.

Misato silently smoked her cigarette for a few minutes, and Shinji turned his head slightly so he could watch her out of the corner of his eye. He still wasn't sure what to make of her now that she wasn't spending every minute they were together screaming and yelling at him. She still did that quite often, but when she did it, he was pretty sure he deserved it. The rest of the time, she acted like a sort of distant aunt; concerned for his welfare, but unsure how close she was allowed or supposed to get. Which was fine, he was just as confused by the change.

"You might find this a bit hard to believe, but I really am a soldier, you know? I know a bit about what you're trying to say," she said suddenly, with a little bit of catch in her voice that caused him to turn and listen, "About 7 years ago, after I graduated college, I was with the 7th Division. Well, I had gone to school on a military scholarship anyway, so it isn't all that surprising… Uh…," Shinji turned completely and was surprised to see her staring out into space, with a sad, faraway look in her eye.

"It was during the third Sino-American War, before the U.N. pretty much sat on all of them. I had a squad of Type 10s under my command," She looked over at him with a look of pride, "You ever see one up close? Best tanks on the field at the time. The Americans have the Sherman IIs now, but for a while we had the best. Though, I still think the 10s have an advan…" Her speech came to a brief halt and she blinked and shook her head, as if trying to clear it, "Gah, that isn't important."

Shinji felt a brief chuckle escape his throat before he realized it, and the Major turned to glare at him. "What? I'm passionate about my work. Give yourself a few more years and see if you aren't comparing Eva mod-" she flinched at the sudden look of horror on his face, "Gah, wrong thing to say, wrong thing to say. Sorry, sorry. Let's move past that… Anyway, we were deployed in Manchuria in support of a couple of American divisions. It was… nasty fighting. Even after Second Impact, it was still a fairly heavily populated area and there was a lot of civilians and partisan warfare."

"Partisan warfare?" Shinji asked, interested, despite his wish to be left alone.

"Guerilla warfare, essentially. Armed civilians and grassroots military units. We'd fight for every inch of land, and as soon as we'd gotten it, a small resistance force would pop-up pretty much from nowhere. We didn't know who we could trust among the civies. Pretty much no one, to tell you the truth. Which really wasn't surprising. We were invading their country after all. Though in our defense, they had invaded the Americans first," She commented, a bit defensively.

"Still…Anyway…" She started again, a bit reluctantly, her eyes once again staring blankly into space and voice curiously monotone, "We were advancing into a small town. Population was about ten or twenty thousand people, and the Americans had actually already pushed through the town and were fighting elements of the 16th Group Army that were pretty well dug in. Really heavy fighting. Our orders were to secure the town well enough so that wounded from the front could be safely treated there."

"The town was a mess. It'd taken pretty heavy shelling a couple days before the Chinese had pulled out, so the roads were a mess. A group of Paladins can really wreck a place. My tanks had moved into the town to support a couple of companies of American Marines from the 3rd Division and some engineers," she grimaced, "Command had reported the town pacified, but that was a lie. The town was in revolt. It was house-to-house fighting for days. In the end, the pacification effort took almost a week. And by the end, we'd cut the town's population by half."

Misato cradled her head in her hands and leaned against the railing. Shinji found himself… enthralled by the story. Despite the near monotone of her voice, it was shaking with suppressed emotion. She was trembling and very likely haunted by whatever she had seen and done. He could almost feel some sort of quiet desperation. He knew the feeling.

"On the third day of the mission, we had advanced to near the center of town. Our orders for the day included taking the town hospital. I had already lost a tank and its crew to a improvised mine, so we moved with extreme caution. We advanced largely unopposed through a residential district and entered the plaza where the hospital was," Misato paused for a moment, seeming to be trying to gather the will to continue, "Waiting for us had to be nearly a thousand people. Some had weapons and opened fire on us. Most of the rest were unarmed and simply charged at my tanks. Men. Women. Children. They just ran straight at us."

She paused again, this time almost physically wavering. "At fifty yards, I ordered the .50 calibers to open up. For self-defense, you know? A guy without a gun can't do much against a tank, but a bunch of them, if they get close enough, can seriously put the crew in danger… So I manned my gun with the rest of them and watched them fall. They say its supposed to look like dominoes, but it wasn't anything that graceful. They just pitched over any which way when the bullets hit them. Bits and pieces of people just disintegrating. There was so much blood in the air it was hard to breath…"

She trailed off and for several minutes the Captain was silent and didn't raise her head. Shinji was afraid to comment or even to move. He didn't want to provoke or frighten her, even though the story had frightened and shook him to his core. It was a terrifyingly tragic story. It made him feel a guilty and a bit ashamed. He hadn't gone through anything like that at all. His moral dilemmas, despite their magnitude, suddenly felt small compared to the decision she had made.

When she finely raised her head, it was to smile wanly at him. However, it was her eyes that made him shiver and pay attention. They were cold. "You're not the only one who has made tough decisions and put innocents in danger, Shinji. You're lucky in a way. As far as you know, everybody is on your side and all the innocents that die are accidents. It could be much, much worse. Don't be too bothered by the fact that it bothers you. The day that it doesn't is what you should really worry about."

* * *

He had a hard time falling asleep that night. Misato's story kept repeating itself over and over in his mind. He tried to make sense of it and apply it to what he was going through with limited success. Her final words both chilled him and strangely reassured him. She had said, in sort of a roundabout and ominous fashion, that it was okay to be worried about making mistakes and causing accidents. He was only human. But so was everyone else. He could only do his best and try to get done what needed to be done.

Of course, this was all relatively easier said than done, Shinji realized. After all, he was only an untrained kid piloting a giant fighting robot against a group of unearthly, super-powered monsters. He'd need the world's largest reserve of luck to survive, and even more importantly win against the monsters.

Thankfully, he didn't have to do it alone. Or at least not anymore. Or wouldn't have to, if Unit 00's reactivation experiment went according to plan. He had managed to pry the details of how the unit had gone berserk out of Dr. Akagi during a particularly long and boring sync test. That the Eva's had a tendency to go berserk was no great surprise to him. After all, he had watched tapes of his own Evangelion ripping the Third Angel to shreds. What had surprised him was that his father had apparently rescued Ayanami during the failed activation at great risk to himself, even injuring himself in the process.

He couldn't help but feel a thread of jealousy wind through his mind. What exactly did Ayanami Rei mean to his father? What did she possess that Shinji, the man's flesh and blood, did not. From his seat in his Eva, he zoomed in on Ayanami, who was out in front of her Eva preparing for the test. He studied her as closely and carefully as he could. She certainly wasn't normal looking. Was that it? He found it hard to believe that his father had a soft spot for albinos. Maybe it was because she was a girl? That was a bit more believable, if still unlikely.

The radio crackled suddenly before coming alive, causing him to jump slightly in his seat. "I see our strapping young hero is eyeing up his woman!" chuckled one of the younger members of his ground crew. Johnson, Shinji thought his name was. He was American. Or possibly British? Either way, he spoke Japanese fluently, but his accent was terrible.

"Wha-Wha-What are you talking about?" Shinji sputtered, a blush instantly lighting up his face.

"Well, Well, we know she comes over to your place at night, stud," another chimed in.

"Th-Th-Tha-That's not what you think! I-I-I-I can explain!" He stuttered in protest.

The sound of raucous laughter came quite clearly over the headset. "That's what I told my wife's father when he walked in on us the first time. He believed it about as much as I do, you, you horny bastard! You're in the Major's good graces, and now the Ice Princess's? Will nothing stop our manly hunk of raging testosterone?" Shinji 's blush deepened, and the laughter from the radio doubled in volume.

Shinji's embarrassment was so strong that for several moments he couldn't even manage a coherent reply. He didn't know how they had figured out she had been coming over, but they had it all wrong! They talked about piloting and what it was like to fight Angels. That was it. He and Ayanami… err… well, that wasn't an unpleasant thought (that thought again caused another blush), but Ayanami didn't look at him like that. If anything, she looked at him like he was a mildly irritating puzzle she needed to solve. When he could read her face at all.

"Shush, Shush, now," Shinji heard Dr. Horaki say, "I'm sure you've mortified Shinji enough for the rest of the week," This produced another ripple of laughter, but after a moment, it died down, and Shinji assumed the crew went back to doing their work. "You alright, Lt. Ikari?" Dr. Horaki asked a few moments later.

"I-I'm alright." Shinji managed, still trying to fight off the last vestiges of his embarrassment.

"Don't you worry about the boys, Shinji. They're a bit rough around the edges, but they mean well. Take it as a complement that they want to be involved, no matter how little, in your life," there was a brief pause, and then Shinji heard Dr. Horaki chuckle, "Even if it is just to make your life miserable. The boys gossip worse than a bunch of old women in a sewing circle."

Shinji felt a smile creep onto his face and a warm feeling well up in his belly. Dr. Horaki was a man of few words, and, like the rest of the crew, a bit rough around the edges, but he was unfailing honest. He was dedicated, like the rest of NERV, to the destruction of the Angels. He had three daughters that he was doing his best to protect the only way he knew how to, supporting the Evangelion project. He often talked about them. Shinji respected and was often jealous of his drive.

However, it seemed the man was a bit embarrassed by his own remarks, as Shinji heard him clear his throat, and then change the subject, "Well, anyway, I hope they've fixed the problems they were having with Unit 00. We've got you here in case things go wrong, but we don't need another set-back."

"What went wrong last time?" Shinji asked curiously.

Dr. Horaki was quiet for a moment. "We don't really know, to tell you the truth. Dr. Akagi thinks it was due to mental instability on the Ice Princess's part, but I find that hard to believe. Ayanami's been training for this sort of thing for years. She's the one who was used as the test subject for the synching systems, for goodness sake. It doesn't make sense that she'd develop problems just in time to synch with an actual Eva."

Shinji thought about that for a moment, "Well, is synching with an Eva different than with a prototype? I mean, when I synch with Unit 01, there's sort of a sense of pressure that builds up until…well, until I properly synch up. Then it goes away. With the plugs we use for testing and practice, I don't really get that feeling."

"That's a good point, and that's what Dr. Akagi suggested as well," Dr. Horaki answered, "But that doesn't explain such a negative reaction. You know what happened, right?"

Shinji had gotten the details earlier from Captain Katsuragi during the briefing for the reactivation. "It went berserk, right? Ripped free of its restraints and tried to break out of its cage," he thought for a moment, "Didn't it also somehow forcibly eject its pilot? That's what caused Ayanami to get hurt, right?"

Shinji could almost see Dr. Horaki nodding, "Right. Now, it going berserk because of pilot instability is unlikely but possible. And I could also probably accept the idea that the pilot could somehow, during the instability, to want be free of the Eva, and thus cause the forced ejection. But…" He trailed off.

Shinji caught on. "The Eva didn't stop berserking after the pilot ejected, right? If the pilot was the one causing the instability, as soon as the instability was removed…"

"The problem would have stopped and the Eva should have stopped berserking. That means that it is likely the problem is not the pilot's fault. Of course, there are plenty of instances where the removal of an instability doesn't cause the system to return to its base state, but since the Evas' require at least the pilot's presence to act..." The doctor trailed off, mumbling to himself, and only occasionally talking loud enough or clear enough for Shinji to hear him.

This was obviously something that his crew chief had spent a lot of time thinking about, which was good. Shinji had understood up to the point before he had mentioned 'base states.' Everything else after had descended into technical gibberish. The important thing was that something had gone wrong with the Eva, and now they thought they had fixed it.

Dr. Akagi's voice suddenly boomed out over the PA system, interrupting Dr. Horaki's musings. "Attention! Unit 00 reactivation test will begin in 5 minutes. All crews please move to your designated bunkers until the test is finished. Repeat, Unit 00 reactivation test will begin in 5 minutes! Please clear the area."

Dr. Horaki gave a startled yelp, and Shinji heard the line cut off. The silence only lasted a moment. "Shinji, are you ready?" said Captain Misato.

"Y-Yes. Captain," he answered.

Her voice was filled with tension, but she didn't sound too unhappy, which he took to be a good sign. "If all goes to plan, you'll have nothing to do, today. If we have a repeat of last time, however, we'll need to you to move in and subdue Unit 00, Lieutenant. We can't have either Lt. Ayanami injured or Unit 00 encased in Bakelite, at this point. We need another operational unit as soon as possible, so we need pilot and machine as intact as possible. Can you do that, Shinji?" she asked.

"Y-Yeah," He replied. In training, they had run a couple of quick scenarios with Unit 00 going berserk. It had been much, much easier than fighting against an Angel. Shinji was fairly certain he could handle it.

"Alright, just sit tight then. If things start to go haywire, don't wait for an order. Just do your best to restrain the unit," Misato said, then dropped off the line.

Shinji sat in relative silence as the techs prepared Ayanami's plug for insertion, and then scampered to the armored bunkers scattered along the wall. That raised a curious question in Shinji's head. Had the builders of the Eva cages foreseen the possibility of the Evangelions going berserk? If not, why build armored bunkers in the hanger itself? Well, he supposed that since the Eva cages were connected to the city above by the launch tubes. That could serve as a possible entry point for an Angel. So maybe that was the explanation.

Dr. Akagi's voiced boomed again, beginning the final countdown till the start of the test, and shaking Shinji out of his thoughts. He griped the Eva's controls tightly and concentrated on Unit 00. The unit was restrained by a large harness that had been bolted to the wall. Shinji had seen the videos of it ripping out of a similar harness during its first test, but this harness seemed to be a much more elaborate affair. The harness covered most of the front of the Eva and connected to the wall in at least four places that Shinji could see. Each arm had three separate cuffs bolted to the wall, and the legs were restrained in a similar fashion. Shinji didn't know how strong the Evas really were, but it didn't look like Unit 00 was going anywhere.

Dr. Akagi finished the countdown, and the hanger went quiet. Shinji switched his radio to the bridge feed just in time to be assaulted by a wave of technobabble. He didn't expect to understand much if any of it, but if nothing else, he'd be able to tell if something was going wrong by the tone of their voices. So if they forgot that he was there in their panic, he'd still be able to move at the first sign of trouble.

Shinji sat and listened as Dr. Akagi and Ayanami moved slowly through the start-up checklist. This wasn't like his near disastrous first try; Dr. Akagi was being cautious and methodical. Not that Shinji blamed her. With the way the first test with the unit had gone, she was probably taking no chances. To do the full checklist usually took Shinji and his crew about half-an-hour. At the rate Dr. Akagi was going and considering that the ground crews were hidden in the bunkers, just getting through the list would take the better part of an hour and a half.

Shinji did his best to pay attention through most of checklist, but it was dreadfully boring, even by NERV standards. So when they finished, he was relieved despite the fact that they were approaching the part where people might end up hurt. He heard the tension in the techs' voices rise as they began final preparation to synch the unit and Ayanami. His hands tightened on the controls.

And then the absolute borderline (whatever that was. Something important, he'd supposed, since the bridge bunnies were always talking about it) was passed without incident, and Shinji saw Unit 00's eyes begin to glow. He heard cheering from the bridge and allowed himself to relax a bit. Unit 00 had officially been reactivated. They had one more Unit to fight the Angel's with, and a little bit more of a chance of surviving.

Of course, that wasn't the end of the test. It stretched for at least three more hours, as Unit 00's crew emerged from the bunkers and slowly began to tinker and calibrate the unit's systems. In addition, they slowly and carefully removed the restraints, one at a time. The unit showed no sign of any radical behavior throughout the process to the relief of everyone in the hanger.

Finally, the test was finished to the satisfaction of Dr. Akagi, and Shinji exited the Eva with a sigh of relief. He was stiff, sore, and bored out of his mind. He almost made it to the showers when the Angel alarm began to sound.

* * *

_Section 02 Database – Pilot Security Team Gamma (PST-G) – File 653_

_Week 8 Report_

_Sgt. Yuichi Kawasumi_

_I'm making this report in the place of my superior, Lt. Yamada, whose duties have taken him elsewhere as of the due date of this document. See amended Form 335-C for details or contact Capt. Arima if questions arise._

_It has been quiet, but busy, at least for Lt. Ikari. His schedule has placed him almost exclusively within NERV itself, which is good, considering the reports that Section 02 – Intelligence has sent us (See File 641 for additional details). Lt. Yamada has ordered additional patrols by other Section 02 units in the pilot's living area, as well as extensive renovations and upgrades to our watch facility near their residences. They should be finished before the end of the week. Lt. Yamada expects to be back within the next two weeks. By then, Lt. Ikari's schedule should begin to slow down, and he'll become more active outside again._

_Notable events for the week: We believe that Lt. Ikari continues to suffer from extreme nightmares, which are interfering with his sleep schedule and endangering his health. He has yet to approach Dr. Akagi or any member of Section 04 about the issue, but we have been hesitant to pry into his personal affairs. If it continues into next week, I will consult with Dr. Ichijou, Lt. Ikari's personal physician, for a possible solution. Unfortunately, sleeping pills will be out the questions, as all Pilots are forbidden from using them. Perhaps counseling will be a viable option._

_Lt. Ayanami continues to regularly visit Lt. Ikari at night. She generally arrives around 1900 hours and leaves between 2100 and 2130. We do not quite know all the details of the visits, but Lt. Ikari has assured us that nothing unsavory has been occurring. It has come to our attention that rumors of this have been spreading amongst the NERV members. We of the Bodyguard Unit would kindly appreciate that whoever is revealing the personal details of either pilot refrain from doing so. If it does not stop, Lt. Yamada has given me permission to report this transgression directly to Cmdr. Ikari. _

_No other notable events to report._

_Sgt. Yuuichi Kawasumi_

_PST-G (Acting) Commander_

* * *

Author Note: Bleh. Finally this is up. This is the second version of this chapter. The first had a different first section which was essentially raw exposition. My pre-reader smacked me and I rewrote it to something that should be much more interesting to read (and let me introduce a couple of other plot points). This chapter is heavy on the Shinji angst, unfortunately, but, well, Shinji is in a pretty angsty situation and has a lot to think about. Also, doing a bit of Misato background was fun, as I got to do some fun research. Her background after college and before Nerv has always been a bit sketchy, and filling in those kind of details is what I'm all about.

Also, thanks to my pre-reader DrEvilGenius as well as reviewer Liberius, who wrote a very good negative review and then clarified some things when I asked for more. Its hard when people say you suck, but you tend to learn a lot.

_Bloodstained Rose_ gets the next chapter in the cycle, so expect to see that in the coming month(s). Probably no chance of one shots, though I've got a Nanoha and a Haruhi story that are begging to be put on paper. Now if only I could write faster. But I've got enough on my plate for now.

Macavity


	7. The Longest Day

Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion and I have no intention of profiting from this story

Chapter 7 – The Longest Day

"Why the hell didn't we detect it sooner!" Misato yelled, at no one in particular.

The panicked hustle and bustle in Central Dogma paused for a moment as all eyes turned towards the irate captain. However, when there was no second exclamation, the assorted techs and liaisons scrambled back to their work without a second thought. The officers might have had time for theatrics, but there was far too much to do and precious little time to do it. For each of them, every second counted and could mean the difference between life and end the world.

All the while, Misato fumed quietly to herself as she and her small team desperately tried to hammer together something that resembled a plan. They didn't have much. She was sick and tired of that. After two months and two battles, they still had nothing. No standard operating procedure. No set of proven tactics to fall back on. Nothing except empty advice. What kind of commander simply sends their soldiers out with the command 'kill?' The kind that should fully expect them to come back in body bags, that's who.

"All right, let's take it from the top, again, Makoto."

Her assistant wasn't nearly as mousy as Ritsuko's, but he was just as quiet and unassuming. He'd come highly recommended from her old commander back in the army where he'd served as logistical chief for her old company. She'd accepted him more out of appreciation for the old man, than anything else. She wasn't quite impressed with him, yet, but he did have a gift for finding things out that she was slowly begin to appreciate. He was handy to dump paperwork on, too.

"An hour ago, a farmer in eastern Kanto called in to one of our emergency lines, reporting that he had seen what is now designated as Ramiel, the 5th angel. Shortly after, we sortied a flight of VG-11s out of one of our local bases to investigate. Forty minutes ago, we had visual confirmation of the angel, and 35 minutes ago, the MAGI formally detected the Angel as it entered Tokyo-3 airspace." Makoto rattled off, for at least the second time.

Misato grimaced. "Damnit, I was hoping that it would sound better the second time. Six, what's the status of the city's automated defenses?"

A voice came over the loudspeaker mounted at the head of the table. "60% at best. The projections seem to indicate that Ramiel is approaching from about the same direction as the Third Angel. Even after two months, I've still got gaping holes in the coverage in that sector. Unlike Shamshel, the Third Angel really tore up the place. I'm patching where I can, but there's just too much infrastructure damage there. I'm going to have to shift more manned assets there to fill the rest of the holes," his voice was grim, "I'm going to have a lot of casualties."

Misato hung her head. "Do what you can. One?"

The pale-face woman in charge of Section 1 shot her a worried look, "Evacuations are under way. I had to drop all the towers early. I didn't think we had time to run the proper evacuation plan, so we've been evacuating the residents through the underground accesses. All of the outlying districts are locked down. Downtown's a mess though. The alarm went off right at the beginning of the lunch rush. The police chief says the streets will be cleared by the time the angel gets here, but I'm not so sure."

"Unfortunate, but unavoidable. Note that we need to refine our evacuation plans. We'll discuss it at the next tactical meeting." Misato responded.

"If there is a next meeting," someone towards the back muttered, just barely loud enough to be heard.

"Hey! None of that!" Misato snapped, "We're the adults here. For Pilot Ikari's sake, if nothing else, we must be positive. We're sending him out there to fight for us. The least we can do is give him as much support as we can. Got it? Good. Four?"

"Medical teams are standing by. The pilot retrieval teams are suited up, and ready wherever they're needed." Said the chipper voice of the young head of the medical section.

"Good. Five?" Misato asked.

"Media blackout is in effect. I've got a couple of cover stories ready to explain why the alert came so late. You want to hear them now, or save that for post-combat?" asked Takeda, spectacles glinting in the low light.

"Later. Too much other crap right now. Be ready, though. Last time, there were a couple of really nosy reporters."

Takeda laughed, "Pardon me, ma'am, but I was one of those nosy ones not that long ago. I think I can handle it. Any chance of snagging Pilot Ikari for a press conference afterwards? That'd go a long way towards satisfying their curiosity. I've already got the entire angle planned out."

"Don't you always!" the crowd nervously chuckled at her jab, "I'll think about it. Two?"

Captain Arima came to attention. "Ma'am. NERV is secure. Staff are still streaming in through the checkpoints, but we're beginning the lockdown as we speak. We'll be at full battle status in 20 minutes or less. Pilots Ikari and Ayanami are both secure and on station. Nobody unauthorized gets within 50 feet."

"Even better. Three?" Misato said, turning to face the last of her section heads.

"I don't know why the hell you all put up with this numbers business. It's not like we don't know everyone here," Ritsuko said, rolling her eyes, "Dr. Horaki and his crew are prepping Unit 1. It's good that the alarm happened when it did. Another or ten or twenty minutes and it would have been in full cryo-storage. The unit would have required another forty-five minutes to warm up after that. As things are now, it's ready to deploy."

"Good. That's been our one saving grace today. Thanks to the sync test, most of our key personnel were here. What can you tell us about the Angel?"

Ritsuko shrugged, and lit another cigarette. The ashtray in front of her was filled to almost overflowing. "What would you like to know? Its big, its blue, and its shaped roughly like a diamond. It's like every other Angel we've faced. We've got practically nothing on it. So far, it hasn't responded at all to any attempts to provoke it, it just shrugs everything off with it's AT field. I've scrambled a couple of the Predators that we have outfitted with scientific gear to take readings and measurements, but we haven't had time to properly analyze the results. I've got Maya and the rest of the research team working on it. The best I can tell you right now is, judging by the energy readings, the core is almost exactly in the middle of the thing."

Misato bit her lip, "Well, I suppose that's better than nothing. We know where the weak point is, if not precisely how to go to it. Speaking of that, do we have anything that's capable of getting to the core?"

Ritsuko snubbed out her cigarette, "Short of sending Shinji up there to hack his way to it with his progressive knife? No, not really. The machine gun isn't effective, we learned that last time. It didn't do much when the core was on the outside of the Angel; there is no reason to expect it to penetrate thorough layers of Angel matter to get to the core on the inside. We've been rushing development of other weapons, but we simply have not had enough time. I don't know if we'll make it through this one." She shrugged.

"Don't be so fatalistic, Ritz. We're humanity's only hope, which means we can't lose what hope we have. As long as our chances aren't zero, we have to keep fighting. We've survived the last two Angels with just as little chance. There's no reason to believe we won't survive this one. Shinji's survived long odds before." Misato said with the ghost of a smile on her pale face, "Now, let's get down to business. What the hell can we get him?"

* * *

Shinji had decided there were few worse things in life than being forced to sit in the plug of his Evangelion for hours at a time. There was nothing to do, the chair was uncomfortable, and there really wasn't a lot of room to stretch. He wasn't even going to talk about the smell. The only thing worse was having to do it more than once a day. He'd barely left the Eva after Unit 00's activation experiment, and then he'd been shoved right back in when the alarm had sounded. He hadn't even been allowed to go to the bathroom.

It was at least more interesting this time. There was a lot of activity outside his Eva as his ground crew made last minute adjustments to the Eva and staff ran back and forth through the hanger trying to get everything ready for launch. The hanger had been configured for the activation experiment, and several important areas had been either disabled or blocked off, in case Unit 00 had gone berserk. Crews from Sections 3 and 6 were hurrying to bring it back to full battle readiness.

His radio crackled to life, "Pilot Ikari, are you there? Can you hear me?"

"Y-yes, Captain Katsuragi," he responded, a bit startled. For the better part of twenty minutes he'd been without radio contact with anyone.

"Good, we're working on a plan to stop Ramiel, but to be completely honest, we don't have much. The Angel has, to our knowledge, ignored whatever we've thrown at it so far. If something shoots at it, it simply shrugs it off with it's AT field and ignores it. If something gets in its way, it simply pushes through it. It isn't providing us a lot to work with." Misato said, not sugar coating anything at all.

Shinji felt his stomach drop, but honestly wasn't that surprised. Despite the amount of support and encouragement that he received from everyone at NERV, once the battle started, however, all of it seem to evaporate and he was on his own once again. Boy versus divine being, no rules, no handicaps, all-in. Always good odds. He appreciated Misato's honesty, though.

"Anyway, we're going to try to do some additional recon, and see if we can gather information in stages. I've got a couple of different ideas I want to try. Hopefully, in the process, we'll get a better idea of the angel's capabilities and come up with a more concrete plan. We're going to have you move around a lot, to try to get the Angel's attention, and to try to get it to show us what it can do. We've never seen how the Angels were planning to get to NERV either, so maybe we'll get lucky and it'll just sit around with no place to go. I don't expect it, but hey, might as well be hopeful," the Captain finished, sounding, to Shinji's surprise, actually upbeat and energized.

Shinji blinked. This was new. "A-alright. What do you want me to do?"

"First, we're going to have you simply run in front of the Angel. As I said, it's been ignoring everything we've thrown at it so far, so we want to see if something closer to its own size will provoke it." He heard someone cut-in with another comment from Captain Katsuragi's side. There was a short, spirited conversation. "Well, that's awesome and completely useless. Rits just informed me that there are a couple of Eva size decoys on order. If they were here, rather than sitting in a warehouse somewhere, they might actually be useful," he heard Captain Katsuragi's sigh of frustration, "God, I hate half-assing this so much."

Shinji felt like he should say something to support her or reassure her in some way, but he wasn't quite sure how to go about it. She wasn't exactly filling him with confidence with her plan, but he knew she was trying. They all were in their own ways. But, this was something completely out of everyone's realm of experience. They were all in a hopeless situation with the world on the line.

And then it came to him. What he could say to cheer her up. It would be clichéd, corny, overdone, and not to mention highly embarrassing to even say, but that didn't stop it from also being the right thing. "D-don't worry. All of us together, we'll beat it. This one and all the rest. It's the only thing we c-can do. I believe in you guys."

For a moment, he didn't hear anything from the other side of the radio, and then it seemed to abruptly explode into noise. He wasn't sure what it was. There was a lot of laughter, but a lot of cheering, too. He definitely could hear Misato laughing and maybe Dr. Akagi as well. But it was far better than the tension he had heard in Misato's voice just a moment ago.

"Shinji, with every battle, I swear you are turning more and more into a comic book hero," Misato said, when she regained her composure.

He shrugged ruefully, even though she couldn't see it, "Well, I do pilot a giant bio-mechanoid robot. It had to rub off on me sooner or later." More laughter greeted that remark, which made Shinji glad. He didn't hear enough laughter around NERV.

"Alright then, Pilot Ikari. You have your orders. We'll be playing this one by ear, so pay close attention. Our current goal is gather as much information about the Angel as possible. If the Angel attacks, try to keep clear. Only engage if you see no other option," Misato instructed.

"Yes, ma'am. Unit One, Lt. Shinji Ikari, ready to go!" Shinji said, managing something like enthusiasm for the first time.

He could almost feel Misato's smile. "Let's go! Unit One, launch!"

* * *

As soon as Unit One began to approach the surface, things began to go wrong.

"Captain! Energy readings from the angel are rising. Th-They're going off the charts!" shouted the third member of the bridge crew, Shigeru Aoba, "The system can't even process what the angel is putting out! The sensors are burning out!"

"Switch main screen to the Angel! What the hell is it doing? Ritsuko! Shinji's gonna be out there in just a second! I need info!" Misato shouted.

Misato watched Ritsuko type furiously at her station out of the corner of one eye, while the rest of her attention was on the main screen. Whatever the Angel was doing… it was beautiful. There were no other words to describe it. Its original shape had been roughly like a cube standing on one of its corners, but before her eyes, it had begun to shift and fold in on itself. It was almost hypnotic as parts of it would peel back to reveal more of itself, which in turn fold in to reveal even more.

"Where the hell is it putting all of its mass?" she asked quietly to no one. Within seconds, the core of the angel was visible, and there was a moment when nothing happened.

"Goddamn it! It's charging a particle beam!" Ritsuko suddenly shouted, still typing furiously.

Misato scrabbled frantically for the transmit button to pass the information to Shinji, but a quick glance at his progress up the launch tubes told her she was going to be too late."Shinji! Dodge!" Misato managed to shout just as the lift crashed to the surface.

Later footage would show that Shinji had in fact begun to move the moment that Misato had yelled. However, it was simply impossible for Shinji and the Eva to move fast enough. The Angel's particle beam slammed into the Evangelion at near the speed of light. The entire bridge watched in horrid fascination as the Eva's chest armor began to melt away barely seconds after impact. However, that was nothing compared to the sound of the pilot's screams. It was a sound that Misato was sure would haunt her dreams for months.

"Deploy the blast shield!" Misato screamed frantically at the staff, trying and failing to remain calm and collected.

After a few precious seconds of scrabbling, her assistant hit the button, and the 20 meter thick protective shield sprang up, blocking the Eva from the deadly beam. With the beam, blocked, Shinji's scream slowly faded. As one, the bridge crewed sighed in relief. The calm was short lived.

"Angel's output increasing! That shield won't last long!" Ritsuko shouted, continuing to process data at her station.

"Can we get Shinji out of there? Retract the elevator!" Misato ordered.

The bridge crew once again frantically worked at their stations, but after a few seconds, nothing happened. "The elevator isn't responding at all!" her assistant said, "There was a lot of energy bleed from the particle beam. I think it must have damaged something!"

Other than Shinji, he meant. "Any other options? We're running out of time here people! Where's the nearest emergency hatch? Is Lt. Ikari still conscious? Can he move?" Misato asked.

"Pilot is unconscious and non-responsive! Suit life support functions have kicked in." Lt. Ibuki replied, "The heat from the beam was intense. Temperatures in the plug reach nearly 200 degrees, for at least a second. His body's gone into shock. It was like he was being boiled alive…"

"1 minute to penetration!" Ritsuko shouted.

"Goddamnit! Drop the entire damn block! The second armor layer can take the weight!" Misato yelled.

There was a moment of stunned silence before the entire bridge sprang into action. That was an order that had never come up in any of their battle simulations. The angels had, for the fourth time, thrown a punch that they hadn't been able to anticipate. Misato silently prayed that Section One had managed to clear that block out before the battle began. And that her team would make it in time.

Precious seconds ticked by. The bridge was swarming with activity; the crews desperately trying to do something they'd barely even touched upon in training. Misato's eyes didn't leave the screen. Any additional input from her would only slow the crew down even more. She had given her order, and it was their responsibility to carry it out.

They didn't make it.

The screams started again.

* * *

"At 1430 local time, the pilot's blast shield was penetrated by the Angel's particle weaponry. 13 seconds later, a team of engineers from Section 3 dropped all of Block B-251. Both the block and the Evangelion plummeted about fifty yards before hitting the second armor plate. Thankfully, the plate held. Unfortunately, the engineers, as well as 43 civilians who had holed themselves up in one of the surface buildings, were killed instantly upon impact. That number may go up. We're still digging out bodies," Misato reported, as she quickly flashed through various slides from the conclusion of the short battle.

"And the Evangelion?" asked Commander Gendo Ikari.

"The recovery crews were standing by and as soon as it was determined that the Angel had no intention of continuing the attack, they recovered both the Evangelion and the pilot," Ritsuko said, "All of the front armor is completely destroyed. I've got crews doing whatever repairs that we can actually manage right now. Most of the electronics were fried, and we're still short on replacement parts. With armor, I'm replacing damaged combat grade parts with just control plates, in a lot of cases. They aren't built to take much punishment. Though, it's a good thing that Shamshel did such a number on the Evangelion."

"Why do you say that?" Misato asked, a note of anger and disbelief in her voice.

"If we hadn't had to replace the front chest armor, there would likely be nothing left of either the Evangelion or the pilot. The original plates for the test type were much thinner and weaker than the combat grade set we replaced them with. It was close enough as it is. Two or three more seconds and the final plates around the cockpit would have failed. As it is, the Eva's armor stood up to the particle beam for nearly 24 seconds. I'm considering sending our supplier a commendation." Misato shot her a dirty look.

"And the pilot? How is Shinji?" Vice Commander Fuyutsuki asked.

Ritsuko suddenly looked grim. "He's in intensive care. He seems to be out of the danger zone for now, but it was touch and go for a little while. His nervous system took a huge shock from the initial hit from the particle beam. Lucky for him and us, the failsafes cut in and unsynced him almost immediately. I'll be happy if he wakes up and is relatively sane. And that's not considering his other injuries."

"You mean the fact that he was boiled alive." Misato declared.

Ritsuko shot Misato an irritated look. "He was not boiled alive. It was close, but not quite that. However, he has suffered 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree burns across much of his body. The plugsuit protected him from much of the damage, at least partially, but anything exposed was burned. This, unfortunately, includes his lungs, due to the LCL."

Misato shivered. She didn't want to imagine what that had to have felt like. "Poor kid. It must have been like breathing fire."

Ritsuko shrugged uneasily. "Undoubtedly. Be glad he kept his eyes closed. He could have gone blind quite easily. As it is, I'm not quite sure how he managed to keep breathing, through the entire thing. Even unconscious, his body kept breathing, despite the pain. I'm probably going to have to recommend a psychiatric examination when we've finished with this angel. Not to mention, he's going to need at least some reconstructive surgery. He's a tough little brat, I'll give him that."

"The important question to ask then is: can he still pilot?" the Commander asked.

Misato began to protest, but Ritsuko cut her off. "Assuming he regains consciousness, yes. The Evangelion refits will take another 6 hours or so, and we hope he'll be awake by then."

"Do you have a way of waking him, should he not come to by then?" the Commander asked.

Ritsuko shifted uncomfortably; well aware the Misato was glaring at her. "Yes, but I would prefer not to use them. It is better that the patient regains consciousness by themselves. Waking him early could disrupt the healing pro-"

"I'm not interested in the petty details. He is a pilot, and undoubtedly we will need him for the battle ahead. Should it come to it, use them. The consequences won't matter if we're all dead. Captain, you have a plan?"

Misato nodded. "As unfortunate as it was for Lt. Ikari, the brief sortie against the angel provided me and my staff enough information to put together a plan. It's bold, risky, and requires a lot of cooperation with the Japanese government, but Ritsuko says she can pull off the parts she needs to do, and I know that our pilots are capable."

"'Pilots?'" the Commander asked, raising an eyebrow, "You will be deploying Rei, as well? So soon after the activation experiment? Are you sure that is wise?"

Misato almost winced at the Commander's questioning tone, but stopped herself in time. Showing weakness in front of the commander would be a major mistake. This plan would require the Commander's support and influence. She shook her head. "It isn't wise. However, with the information and equipment that we have on hand, I believe it is necessary. We must be willing to take any risk in order to defeat the Angels. Lt. Ikari is injured. I don't believe there is a high enough probability of success if he is the only one deployed. Another pilot is necessary. As you said before, the consequences won't matter if we're all dead."

The Commander frowned, most likely unhappy about her use of his own words, but Professor Fuyutsuki whispered something in his ear. The Commander sighed and nodded in assent. Misato would have paid a good sum to know exactly what the old man had said. Commander Ikari was not an easy man to convince of anything. She could tell he wasn't happy about it, however. "Very well. What are the details of this plan?"

"Operation Yashima's time table is as follow…"

* * *

The first thing he was aware of was pain. And then there was light. And finally, Rei Ayanami.

Staying focused on any of the three was difficult. He didn't want to focus on the pain, but it was constant and dominated much of his brain, despite how oddly muffled and distant it felt. He tried concentrating on the light or Rei, since either was better than the pain, but neither the light nor the girl were always there, either. Or sometimes they were and were different. He couldn't explain how or why, just that it was so. That disturbed him less than he thought it would, which only served to disturb him more. And sometimes he would just fade out, only to return to the struggle a short time later.

He wasn't sure how long that lasted, but eventually things became clearer, he felt more awake, and the pain felt less distant and became nearly unbearable. He realized that he was likely on some form of powerful painkillers. They were wearing off. But at least he was able to concentrate on Rei. She was there, in a chair, quietly reading a book. She was a reassuring sight. It was good to know he was not dead. He liked Rei, but she wasn't the person he imagined would be waiting for him on the other side. Though, he did suppose she looked a bit like his mother. That might explain his father's odd fixation with her.

Eventually, whatever he was on wore off enough that he felt confident enough that he could speak without babbling incoherently. He discovered immediately that he was wrong, for what came out when he opened his mouth sounded like a strangled combination of cough and moan which hurt like hell. Whatever it was that came out somehow sounded enough like 'water' that Rei seemed to figure it out. She reached into a cabinet that was sitting beside her, pulled out a bottle of water, and poured him a cup. She offered it to him with great care, watching how his bandaged hands grabbed the cup and brought it to his mouth. He hoped she was just trying to prevent a spill. But honestly he didn't care, because the water was the best thing he had ever tasted.

She refilled his glass for him several times, never saying a word. Finally, when he was sated, she sat back in her chair. "You are seriously injured."

It wasn't a question. From his limited experience with Rei, he had learned that she was an expert at stating the obvious. Honesty was the only thing you could expect from a girl who freely admitted that she had no social skills. It was something he had learned to accept from her. Still, it could be more than a little irritating.

He opened his mouth to reply, but, remembering the pain, instead gestured for something to write with. It took a few tries to get across to Rei exactly what he wanted, but once he managed it, she produced a pen and a pad of paper from the book bag at her feet. She apparently had been doing schoolwork while waiting for him to awaken. He belatedly recognized the book she had been reading as one of their literature textbooks. An angel had attacked the city above their heads, and she was doing homework. He really didn't understand what went on in her head.

He scribbled a quick question asking for details of what happened. It wasn't easy with his hands bandaged as they were, but it was far less painful than speaking. She nodded. "What is the last thing you remember?"

He considered her question. He remembered his conversation with Misato and the bridge crew before his launch, as well as the usual thrill of riding the launch elevator. But, he couldn't remember reaching the surface. He definitely didn't remember getting injured. That did not bode well at all. He did his best to summarize what he remembered.

She glanced at the paper, and seemed to think a little herself. "As soon as you reached the surface, the angel attacked you with a particle beam-type weapon. It inflicted severe damage to both the Eva and yourself before you were successfully retrieved. The Angel, perceiving that you were no longer a threat, positioned itself above Terminal Dogma, and began drilling through the armor plating. That was 8 hours ago. Section 3 estimates the angel will penetrate through the last armor plate in another 2 hours. You were in surgery and intensive care for 6 hours. The last two hours you have been here. Is that sufficient?"

He nodded, but scribbled another question.

"What kind of injuries did you sustain?" she asked. He nodded. "I read your sheet. You have extensive burns, both exterior and interior. The doctors think you are lucky to be alive. One of the nurses referred to you as the 'Invincible Pilot,'" she paused and seemed to think a little, "If I were not here, she might have kissed you, I think. I am not particularly skilled in reading people, however, as you know. Perhaps she merely wished to express her admiration in some other way."

Shinji certainly didn't feel like an invincible pilot. In his book, invincible people did not end up in the hospital completely covered in bandages after being unconscious for eight hours. He didn't deserve people's admiration for failing so badly that he was nearly killed. He didn't know what the nurse had been thinking, but she had to be crazy to put her faith in him.

"The doctor's and nurses seemed very concerned about your well being," Rei continued, oblivious to his musings, "And Captain Katsuragi and Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki have both visited several times asking about your health. I have heard your security team refused to be relieved from duty several times already. Major Arima of Section Two came down and spoke with them. There was almost a fight."

Shinji fidgeted uncomfortably. He hoped that his team hadn't got into too much trouble over him. Without Lt. Yamada around, they didn't have as much support as they normally did. With only three of them, rather than the full four, he knew that they were pulling long shifts. Lt. Yamada would have at least had the common sense to accept the offer to be relieved. Well, he hoped that the lieutenant would. He was valuable, but he would rather his team get the rest they needed so they could watch over him where he really needed it. Who would attack him while he was in the middle of a NERV hospital, surrounded by NERV security during an Angel attack?

Abruptly the door swung open, startling both Shinji and Rei. Standing in the door frame was Captain Katsuragi. She was breathing heavily, as if she had just run a good distance. In her hand was a large sheaf of paper and on her face was something that might have resembled a smile, if it hadn't seemed so predatory. He hadn't seen that kind of expression on her face before. She looked excited, angry, and eager all rolled together. There was a manic energy about her that put him on edge. Something big was about to happen.

"Good, you both are here. Saves me the trouble," she said as she shoved the door closed and practically threw herself into one of the other chairs that were placed about the room, "Things are going to be moving real quick soon, so I figured I'd come up here and brief you both myself. Plus, I don't want you getting up more than you have too, anyway, Shinji. Gotta make sure you are in the best condition possible."

Just judging by his injuries, Shinji was fairly certain that he wouldn't be in the best condition for several weeks, if not months. However, it was rare to see Captain Katsuragi this animated, so he merely satisfied himself with a nod.

"I shall excuse myself, then." Rei asked, moving to gather her belongings.

Misato shook her head and waved the girl back to her seat. "This concerns you as well. The upcoming operation will involve both of you. And both the Evas."

"Was this approved by the Commander?" Rei asked, with just a hint of doubt. If Shinji hadn't recently spent a good bit of time with the quiet girl, he wasn't sure if he would have caught it or not. He found it a little odd that she thought it would be strange for her to be deployed.

"Of course," Misato replied, "I couldn't launch either of the Eva's without the Commander's or Vice Commander's permission. Both of them have approved of my plan. It'll be risky, but with luck, no one else will get injured." She glanced quickly at Shinji, winced, and instead turned towards Rei.

"Lt. Ikari and Unit One will be at the center of this operation, Rei. Your job will be to protect him. While you are the most experienced with the Evas in general, you have spent the last several months recuperating from your wounds. You have had relatively little contact with your Eva since then. Not that we doubt your ability any, but this operation will require flexibility and timing. Shinji, while injured, is much more prepared for finesse work at this time. Understood, Rei?" Misato said.

Rei nodded.

"Good. Now pay attention, both of you. In less than two hours, at midnight, Operation Yashima will commence. Rei, you will deploy in Unit Zero with a large shield that we've cobbled together from the ceramic bottoms of several unused space shuttles. As Ritsuko put it, 'it won't be great protection, but it's better than nothing.' Your job will be to prevent Ramiel from firing at Shinji," She turned toward him, "Who will be firing our version of the positron rifle."

Shinji blinked and scrawled a quick question on Rei's notepad.

Misato read it, and nodded. "Correct, Shinji. Ritsuko and the brains down in Section 3 still are having issues with the rifle. As far as I can tell, the JSSDF and Section 3 are both having output trouble. If I understood Rits right, it takes a heck of a lot of power to generate a constant stream of positrons. Our version of the rifle can't handle the kind of output needed to penetrate the Angel's AT field, so we've borrowed the Self-Defense Force's version, which can. The issue comes from how to power it. Ritsuko said that all the power used to run Tokyo-3 would barely provide enough to scratch Ramiel's AT field. And normally that's all that we would have access to."

"I assume that to mean we now have access to a greater amount of power?" Rei asked.

Misato nodded smugly, "Per our charter with the UN, NERV has the authority to temporary requisition just about anything in order to defeat the Angel's. I asked the Commander for his permission to use this authority to requisition all of the electrical power in Japan."

If it weren't for his injuries, Shinji would have whistled in awe. That was no simple request, there. That was billions and billions of yen worth of power. Misato was moving mountains in order to see this plan through. It almost made him feel hopeful. But would it work? If the plan relied on him to shoot the angel quickly and accurately, could he do it in this condition?

He wrote that same question on Rei's writing pad.

Misato frowned, and didn't answer him for a moment. When she spoke, her voice was rough. "Yes. You can. It will be painful. Both you and Unit One are damaged beyond what I'd normally consider to be deployable levels, but honestly, there is no other choice. Most of the processes to fire the rifle will be completely automated, but we still need you to have the highest synch rate possible. In about half an hour, we're going to have to flush most of the painkillers out of your system, so you'll be aware and awake as possible. Dr. Akagi says that being in pain has less effect on synch ratio's than most painkillers, unfortunately."

Shinji nodded slowly.

Misato smiled wanly at him. "I tried my best to find a way to keep you out of this plan, Shinji. But short of dropping N2's until the thing dies, there was no other option. This is the best plan we have. If it makes you feel any better, I'm confident you can do it painkillers or not, but we really can't afford to take a chance here. I would rather you be in pain than dead. I'm sure you feel the same."

"He won't die," Rei said, re-entering the conversation so abruptly that both Misato and Shinji jumped, "You have ordered me to protect him. I will not fail."

Misato raised an eyebrow, and looked between Rei and Shinji with a look of dawning comprehension. Shinji knew what was coming, and was already frantically scribbling on the notepad when Misato started to laugh, "Wow. I heard the rumors, but I didn't believe it one bit. Could it be…?"

Shinji shook his head as fast as he could bring himself to, and raised the pad for her to see. It read, 'MISUNDERSTANDING!' in big, bold letters. That, of course, triggered another bout of laughter from Misato. NERV's rumor mill, as Shinji was rapidly discovering, was far too efficient for anyone's good.

"I bet, I bet. Well, before I leave you two… alone… I suppose I should finish the briefing. The rifle will be positioned on one of the hills surrounding the city. We haven't yet decided where, just yet, because the power boys haven't got back to us yet on where is most convenient…

_Radio Transcript – Echo Team_

* * *

_Mission CI143 23:45 Local Time_

_*Gunfire*_

_Echo-1: Four and Five, move forward to support Seven. Take out that damned sniper._

_Echo-2: Intercepting radio transmission from the building, Boss. They're calling in…a chopper? Requesting evac, it sounds like. Pilot on the other side says it'll be 15 minutes._

_Echo-1: Hell. We need to be in there before the chopper gets here. Where's Yamada?_

_Echo-2: He's helping cover Four. She took a round in the leg._

_Echo-1: Goddamn it. _

_*Sounds of scrambling and moving around. Gunfire is louder*_

_Echo-1: Three!_

_Echo-3: I'm a bit busy here, Lead. What the hell do you want?_

_*Burst of Gunfire*_

_Echo-1: I need you and Eight to go around back and flank 'em. Chopper inbound. We need things under control before it gets here._

_Echo-3: Why don't we call in our own support? Our VTOL could drive off a chopper easy._

_Echo-1: Orders, Three. You know how it works._

_*Someone screaming*_

_Echo-3: Damn the orders and damn these spies. Doesn't anybody know we're all on the same side? Where's Eight?_

_Echo-4: I saw him move up with Seven. They took the sniper down. _

_Echo-3: Alright, I'll grab him and go retrieve the stupid papers. Before the chopper gets here. Damn spies. If I catch the mole, I'm going to string him up by his intestines, so help me God._

Finally out. This chapter was a hard one for me to get out. A lot happened, a lot of switching between viewpoints and times. I think it finally came together the way I wanted it too, though. Misato's second viewpoint almost got switched out for a Ritsuko viewpoint, but I don't really want to use her as a viewpoint character. Also, I got halfway through this chapter and realized that Gendo hadn't made an appearance in the story at all except as a shadowy figure.

There are a couple differences in what happened in this chapter verses the original. Can you find them? I'm trying to lay groundwork for things that will happen later. Can you find what's important? It should be interesting. Can't wait to get to the next couple of chapters myself…

See ya next time!

Macavity


End file.
